Sangomar oil field : Approval sought for first ever Senegalese oil project

Woodside Petroleum and its partners have submitted the development and exploitation plan and exploitation authorization request for the Sangomar oil field to Senegalese authorities.

The Sangomar field, which was formerly known as SNE field, was discovered in 2014. The Senegalese oil field, which is contained in the Rufisque, Sangomar and Sangomar Deep Blocks, spans 7,490km² in the Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea Bissau Basin.

The Sangomar oil field, which will be developed in multiple phases, will be the first offshore oil development project in Senegal should it get approval and move ahead with oil production.

According to Woodside Petroleum, the development and exploitation plan and exploitation authorization request of the Senegalese oil project are the last major regulatory steps needed prior to the final investment decisions which are to be taken by each of the joint venture partners.

Sangomar oil field : Woodside Petroleum and partners seek approval for the first ever Senegalese oil project. Image courtesy of Gordon Johnson from Pixabay.

The joint venture partners in the Sangomar field development are Woodside Energy (Senegal), the operator with 35% stake, Capricorn Senegal, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy, which holds 40% stake, FAR, which has 15% stake, and the Senegalese national oil company Petrosen, which holds the remaining 10% stake.

Peter Coleman – Woodside CEO, commenting on the Sangomar oil field milestone, said: “The submission of the Exploitation Plan and authorisation request is the culmination of front-end engineering design activities. These are the final documents required by the Government ahead of granting approval to proceed.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the joint venture, the Government, our contractors and other stakeholders to develop this opportunity, which will also be Senegal’s first oil project.”

Woodside Petroleum said that Phase 1 of the Sangomar oil project will involve installation of a stand-alone floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility with 23 subsea wells and associated subsea infrastructure.

The FPSO is expected to have a capacity of about 100,000 bbl/day, with first oil intended to be drawn in early 2023.  Phase 1 of the Sangomar oil field development will target an estimated 230 MMbbl.

The Sangomar FPSO will be designed to enable integration of additional infrastructure in the subsequent development phases, including gas export to shore, and future subsea tie-backs from other fields and reservoirs.