FAR's 'Sama' prospect appears to have a thick Albian Sequence. The Crest is mapped at around 2500m & runs till 2790-2800m depth, which makes it relatively shallow to drill.
The nearest offset well was drilled by Chevron in 1979 at Jammah-1 & was dry with just gas shows in a thick Sandy sequence. This was drilled 'off-structure' based on 2Dseis back then. Most likely they missed the crestal location, which now becomes a lot more clearer with the recent 3D shot in A2 block by Polarcus & the data that FAR has from its SNE wells & 3D to the north which helps with remapping the Structural boundaries.
A2 is under its first extension till Dec 2018, so an Exploration well is reqd.
Without confirmation from exploratory & appraisal drilling, one cant book 2C etc. So whatever is mapped from the 3D etc is Prospective Resource for the time being.
It may simply b a gas cap with an Oil leg or just gas, so will have to keep an eye out for more 3D clips etc from FAR post the farmout completion with CNOOC & leading up to drilling.
For now FAR hold's 80% & ERIN has 20%. Dont know if FAR will drop 60% from this 80% for a free carry with CNOOC. Time will tell.
Sama's crest is in Gambia, so should b ok. However, if it was spread across the martime boundary then a joint Unitisation treaty would b reqd & would b Complicated given the mix of JV partners at SNE & A2. Not sure how a tie-in will b done especially in the current PE situation.
As an case study, the neighbours to the north (BP-KOS) have recently drafted a revised JV agreement at Tortue details of which were released under KOS's SEC filings (hence the move by BP to pick up the remaining 30% in Senegal from PetroTimis & takeup Operatorship).
Whilst 3 discoveries by Kosmos in Senegal & FAN and SNE by Cairn has put Senegal in the limelight as the next cab off the ranks, it is still very early days for Gambia to venture down that path as they need a few more wells to define a Contingent resource & then move to the next phase (ie Evaluation, Commercialisation & then Bank the proceeds from the sliding scale Royalty, various Production milestone Bonuses, Corporate taxes etc).
FAR Price at posting:
7.8¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
