Cairn Energy have today announced another discovery offshore Senegal, adding to their string of successes in this area in recent years.
The SNE North-1 well discovered in excess of 24m of gross hydrocarbon column (16m net) across at least three separate intervals and a fourth zone may also be present. These intervals include an oil and gas column in the high quality, lower reservoir also present in the SNE field. Samples of a consistent 35-degree API oil (lighter than that encountered in the SNE field), water and gas were recovered to surface. Work to determine the extent of the hydrocarbon accumulations is ongoing. Source: Cairn Energy: SNE North-1 exploration well result
Map taken from Cairn Energy website; well information taken from FAR Limited website
The shelf edge play has been widely publicised since the first SNE discovery. It comprises Lower Cretaceous Albian sandstone reservoirs draped across an Aptian carbonate paleo -shelf edge four-way dip closure. The trapping mechanism is easily overlooked due to seawater compensation and deeply incised canyons in the shallow overburden, which cause an apparent lack of closure on two-way time data. It is therefore critical that an accurate depth volume is used to identify the hydrocarbon-bearing structural traps, and TGS are currently processing both the NWAAM 2017 and NWAAM 2012 surveys to PSDM, which reveals many more analogous structures along the margin.
NWAAM 2017 fast track seawater-compensated TWT seismic showing location of SNE North-1 discovery; inset map showing TGS seismic data coverage
The SNE-1 discovery was the world’s largest oil discovery in 2014, and opened a new play offshore Senegal. TGS began acquiring the long-offset NWAAM 2D seismic survey in 2011 and it has been an industry leading dataset for regional geoscience studies in the MSGBC Basin. The survey has been infilled and extended as of 2017, providing denser coverage and even more opportunities for identifying new and exciting prospects within this emerging play. Click here to learn more.
For more information, please contact:
E: amesales@tgs.com
T: +44 208 339 4200