FAR on Tuesday, announced that the drilling has resumed on second appraisal well to be drilled on the SNE oil field, offshore Senegal.

The SNE-3 well, situated about 3km south of the initial SNE-1 discovery well, is to be drilled in about 1,180m of water to a total vertical depth sub-sea of approximately 2,782m. It is expected to include an extensive evaluation program involving coring, logging and flow testing.

The well is coming after the successful first appraisal well at SNE-2 and will further assess the potential of the SNE oil field. The SNE-2 well successfully flowed oil at 8,000 bpd and seems to have the same high quality 32 degree API oil found in SNE-1.

SNE-3 had been initially drilled to a depth of 1,755 metres by the Ocean Rig Athena before the SNE-2 was drilled. The company estimates the SNE-3 well to reach total depth after resumption of drilling as well as after the conclusion of coring in February. Cairn Energy is the operator of the SNE oil field with 40% alongside ConocoPhillips, FAR and Petrosen with 35%, 15% and 10% interests respectively.  

Anita Fatunji