2C contingent oil resources contained in the SNE field offshore Senegal have increased by 14% to 641 mmbbls (100% basis, recoverable, unrisked). A new, updated Independent Resources Report for FAR Ltd on the SNE oil field has been completed by RISC Operations Pty Ltd (RISC) following the drilling of two further successful appraisal wells, BEL-1 and SNE-4.
The SNE contingent resource assessment completed by RISC and set out in its new Independent Resouce Report represents a material increase to the estimates previously reported by FAR in April (Refer: FAR ASX announcement 13 April 2016).
The SNE oil field contingent resource estimate detailed in Table 1 below are set out in RISC’s report and assessment of the probabilistic resource evaluation carried out by FAR in accordance with industry standard SPE-PRMS definitions.
This third material increase in the SNE oil field contingent recoverable resources is a result of improved understanding of SNE oil field parameters after incorporating the results of the SNE-1 discovery well and four successful SNE oil field appraisal wells along with associated wireline logging, flow testing, available core data and high quality re-processed 3D seismic data.
The latest estimation of Stock Tank Oil Initially in Place (STOIIP) was based on reprocessed and depth converted 3D seismic data covering the field and wireline log and oil sample data from SNE-1, SNE-2, SNE-3, BEL-1 and SNE-4. The recovery estimates have been evaluated using analytical methods. The volumes of individual zones have been aggregated probabilistically taking account of dependency between input property distributions.
The SNE discovery is at an advanced stage of appraisal. Further drilling, testing and studies are expected to be undertaken to define a development project.
The growth in FAR’s estimated SNE contingent recoverable oil resource has been significant since the joint venture made the SNE-1 oil discovery in November 2014. As more data has become available the field size has increased by 316% at the 2C level from the pre-drill best estimate of 154 mmbbls.
FAR estimates the SNE oil field covers an areal extent of more than 350km2 (135 sq miles). This very large foot print and significant resource rate SNE as a global giant, or “elephant” sized oil field. The five wells drilled to date into the field (SNE-1, SNE-2, SNE-3, BEL-1 and SNE-4) cover a distance of approximately 9km in a north-south direction (BEL-1 to SNE-3) and 5km to the east (SNE-4). All of the SNE wells have confirmed a ~100m gross oil column, high quality 32? API oil, and the presence and correlation of principal reservoir units across the field. In addition, flow tests from SNE-2 and SNE-3 have also indicated the potential for commercially viable well production rates.
FAR Managing Director Cath Norman said;
“RISC’s new independent assessment of SNE’s 2C contingent recoverable resource of 641 mmbbls represents a significant 14% increase to RISC’s previously reported estimate of 561 mmbbls, and a stellar increase of 316% from the pre-drill estimated size of the field”.
“RISC’s latest assessment of SNE integrates the results from the successful BEL-1 and SNE-4 appraisal wells. BEL-1 confirmed good quality oil reservoirs in the northern portion of the SNE field. SNE-4 found oil bearing upper reservoir sands of similar quality to those encoutered as gas bearing elsewhere in the SNE field”.
“The industry phrase “good fields get better” could not be more appropriate for this world class field. The growth of the SNE field from a pre-drill P50 estimate of 154mmbbls to a 2C recoverable contingent resource of 641 mmbbls today has been achieved in less than two years. This highlights that new information from each successful SNE appraisal well and associated wireline logging, flow testing and core data has improved the overall level of confidence of the size of the field when integrated with 3D seismic and reservoir mapping”.
“The Senegal JV has cut 612m of core data from four successful appraisal wells drilled into the field and this information is now dramatically improving our understanding of the petrophysical nature of the reservoir when combined with the well log data, particularly for the upper reservoir sand units”.
“FAR has delivered another remarkable independently audited SNE resource upgrade and we look forward to providing investors with a future statement on FAR’s view of the commerciality of the SNE oil field, update on our prospective resources, and the resumption of drilling offshore Senegal in 2H 2016. SNE is a world class oil field that is truly worthy of the “elephant” title”.
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