Australian oil and gas operator Woodside has announced an agreement to acquire Cairn Energy’s 40% interest in the Sangomar oil project offshore Senegal, pending approval from the Senegalese government.
In July, Cairn Energy, a joint venture partner of Woodside in the project, alongside Australian independent FAR Ltd and state-owned Petrosen, announced that it had agreed to sell its rights to Russian operator Lukoil. In August, Woodside announced its intention to exercise its preemptive rights and matched Lukoil’s $400 million offer.
The recoverable hydrocarbon reserves of the Sangomar field total approximately 500 million barrels of oil. The field is planned to come online in 2023, representing Senegal’s first offshore oil field in production. The Sangomar field is located in the Rufisque-Sangomar-Sangomar Deep evaluation area, in which Woodside’s interest now stands at 75%.
The $4.2 billion Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Sangomar field was taken at the start of 2020, and field development work has since started. FAR Ltd announced that it is also looking for buyer for its 13.67% stake in the project, as it has faced issues in securing financing for its part of the capital expenditure.