Australian oil and gas exploration company FAR has secured a contract with Stena Drillmax Ice, a subsidiary of Stena Drilling, to begin drilling operations in the Bambo-1 well, offshore Gambia, at the end of 2021.
Stena Drilling’s IceMAX drillship is slated to begin drilling in Block A2 between 1 October and 30 November and will have access to drill into three reservoirs in the Block, with an estimated recoverable prospect of 1.1 billion barrels of oil.
FAR indicated that the three reservoirs include the hydrocarbon-bearing Soloo Prospect and the undrilled Bambo and Soloo Deep Prospects.
The company further stated that the drillship, with targeted depth of 3,266m below 993m of water, located 85km offshore and 500m south of the Senegal-Gambia border, is expected to take 30 days to drill.
FAR Managing Director, Cath Norman stated that the discovery of oil has the potential lead the west-African country out of its current ‘energy poverty’ and, “transition from burning heavy fuel oil for power generation.”
“The rig is planned to commence drilling in Q4 this year and the well will be the first well to be drilled in the Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bisseau, and Guinea-Conakry (MSGBC) Basin since the collapse of the market in the wake of the oil price crash and the COVID-19 pandemic and we look forward to getting back to the basics at FAR and delivering value to our shareholders through successful exploration drilling,” Norman added.
Exploration of the A2 and A5 Block permits in The Gambia are a joint venture between FAR (50%) and PC Gambia Ltd. (50%), a subsidiary of Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas.
