If we reflect back 5 decades ago until now, over 145 hydrocarbon exploration wells have been drilled in Senegal, the westernmost country in West Africa. 49 of these were drilled offshore, with 23 of these being located in the Casamance Offshore. The other drilling area of interest is onshore in the vicinity of the Cape Vert Peninsula. Adding to Senegal’s potential, the remainding Senegal Basin outside these areas are still under-explored.
The 1950s was an era for Libya when petroleum prospecting within the region began, and shortly after the country was home to discoveries of a number of small fields. One of the country’s oil-discovery-highlights was that of a heavy crude oil field discovery, which comprised of 1 billion barrels of crude oil. Diam Niadio 14 is the name of the only gas field discovered in Libya.
Key players in Libya
- First Australian Resources Ltd (FAR) – 3 Blocks covering 2,086 sq km;
- The Rufisque, Sangomar and Sangomar Deep offshore Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) – cover an area of ~ 7,490 km2 over the shelf, slope, and basin floor of the Senegalese portion of the productive Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau Basin;
- 3D seismic – Attained, mapped and identified numerous prospects ranging from 200 million bbl to greater than 1 billion bbl potential;
- Oranto Petroleum Ltd – 3 exploration and production sharing contracts were signed between the Nigerian based company and the State of Senegal;
- The Saint Louis Block covers the northern-most inshore section of the Senegalese offshore area and covers an area of 2,807 sq km. Energy Africa acquired the St. Louis exploration licence with Petrosen in late 2003. Tullow operates the licence with a 60% interest.
- The Sebikhotane block has had many wells drilled and several seismic lines acquired including 3D covering 120 square kilometers around the Diam Niadio area since 1986;
- A drilling program of four exploration wells kicked off with the first well Gadiaga which was drilled between November 96 and January 97 at a total depth of 2180 m. Several interesting levels were encountered and six of them tested in the Senonian section with two levels in the Campanian giving commercial gas.
Want to work in Africa’s Oil & Gas Sector? Click on the link to secure your dream job: www.oil-jobs-recruitment.com
