African Petroleum Corporation’s subsidiary African Petroleum Senegal Limited has received confirmation from the President in the form of a Presidential decree of entry into the First Renewal Period on licence Senegal Offshore Sud Profond (SOSP).

According to African Petroleum, prior to entering into the First Renewal Period, Petrosen (the National Oil Company of Senegal) agreed to defer the existing well commitment of the First Renewal Period of SOSP by 18 months to allow for further technical work by the company prior to drilling.

The initial exploration period on SOSP expired on November 2, 2014, with African Petroleum Senegal Limited exceeding all obligations, having acquired 3,600km2 of 3D seismic data, purchasing 2,000km2 of 2D seismic data, processing and interpreting both datasets and investing more than $21 million in the licence.

The company has now entered the First Renewal Period, with effect from the date of the Presidential decree namely December 15, 2014, for a three-year period that has been split into two 18-month sub-periods. The company says that the first sub-period requires it to carry out further technical work over SOSP and the second sub-period, should the company elect to enter into, requires the drilling of an exploration well. In accordance with the terms of the licence, the company says it has relinquished 30% of SOSP upon entering the First Renewal Period.

According to the press release, SOSP has significant potential for both deep-water submarine fans and shelf edge platform plays, both of which have recently been proven in nearby acreage by the Cairn Energy operated wells FAN-1 and SNE-1. The company says it has proposed Pre-Stack Depth Migration (PSDM) over the licence area to improve definition of the material prospects identified through technical work to date. The forward programme, agreed with Petrosen, provides an opportunity to analyse the data fully prior to making a commitment to drill the exploration well in the second sub-period of the First Renewal Period.

Chief Executive Officer, Dr Stuart Lake, comments: “The entering of the next phase on licence SOSP demonstrates our commitment to our operations in Senegal. In addition, the deferral of the well obligation in SOSP until after June 2016 allows the Company time to leverage learnings from the two recent significant oil discoveries by Cairn Energy in nearby acreage, and complete seismic reprocessing and interpretation over the licence area prior to drilling our first exploration well.”

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

Please leave comments and feedback below