London — Oil major BP said Monday its recent three-well drilling campaign offshore Mauritania and Senegal identified high-quality gas reservoirs which are of a "world-class scale."
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Register NowThe three appraisal wells drilled this year, GTA-1, Yakaar-2 and Orca-1, targeted a total of nine hydrocarbon-bearing zones, encountering 160 meters of net pay, BP added.
BP said these successful results could underpin future developments, including a possible new development in Yakaar-Teranga in Senegal and in the Bir Allah/Orca area in Southern Mauritania.
"The timings of both potential future developments will depend on the level of appraisal required, supporting commercial development plans and integrated gas master plans in the host nations," BP added.
A spokeswoman at BP confirmed that it had drilled additional wells in Orca-1 in the BirAllah development and it encountered 86 meters of net pay across six reservoir intervals.
This is more than double the 36 meters of net gas pay Kosmos Energy said it had encountered in late-October.
Komsos Energy which is working with BP on these wells, had said these finds had raised the stakes for a comprehensive LNG and gas development in the region, after a recent string of finds in the deepwater basin offshore Mauritania and Senegal.
"This is an exciting result as it proves that our seismic data is identifying hydrocarbon reservoirs deeper than we had previously thought," BP's head of exploration Howard Leach said. "We have identified a large prospective area with considerable resource potential in Southern Mauritania. We will now conduct further appraisal drilling to help inform future development decisions."
Focus on tortue
BP has been increasing its presence in the gas sphere recently. The oil major and its partners took the final investment decision for the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim floating LNG project offshore Mauritania and Senegal in late December 2018.
It is designed in its first phase to export 2.5 million mt a year of LNG from an offshore area straddling the border between Mauritania and Senegal in West Africa before expanding to10 million mt/year in later phases.
BP expects its planned Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project which includes the coveted Tortue gas field to become increasingly cost-competitive as it moves into later expansion phases.
The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project is based on an estimated 15 Tcf of offshore gas and is expected to produce its first gas in 2022.
BP's partners in Block C8 which holds Orca-1 in Mauritania are Kosmos Energy and SMHPM (Societe Mauritanienne Des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier). BP's partners in the Cayar Profond block (which includes Yakaar-2) in Senegal are Kosmos Energy and Petrosen. BP's partners in the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim unit are Kosmos Energy, SMHPM and Petrosen.
--Eklavya Gupte, eklavya.gupte@spglobal.com
--Edited by Jonathan Dart, newsdesk@spglobal.com