Last checked at 6 Apr 2017 07:00
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AT 7AM 6 April 2017
CAIRN ENERGY PLC ("Cairn" or "the Company")
Senegal Appraisal & Exploration Well result
Cairn is pleased to announce the results of the VR-1 well offshore Senegal. Rig performance continues to be excellent and operations have been safely and successfully completed ahead of schedule and under budget following the drilling and logging operations.
Cairn's analysis and integration of the dataset collected is continuing with initial results as follows:
VR-1 Appraisal Target
Ø The well encountered the targeted lower (500 series) reservoirs within the oil column as anticipated, confirming the reservoir presence, fluid contacts and fluid quality in line with the results from the previous wells
Ø Preliminary analysis indicates the lower (500 series) reservoir quality is better and slightly thicker than previously encountered
Ø Oil and water samples were taken and recovered to surface
The appraisal results from VR-1 are very encouraging, as the well is a significant step out, some 5 km west from the line of wells drilled to date, including the SNE-1 discovery. The results will be useful for the planning of the first phase of development - the lower 500 series reservoirs are the better connected, more tabular, highly productive sands, where water-flooding should yield recovery factors of 30% or more. The well result confirms the predictability of the mapped reservoir over a wide area giving confidence to the reservoir engineering models. A resource update will be provided later this year following completion of the appraisal programme, however VR-1 has confirmed the 1C proven resources for the field.
VR-1 Exploration Target
Ø The deeper carbonate exploration targets were encountered as expected with indications of hydrocarbons at the base of the well in tight formation that is not currently viewed as commercial
Ø A significant amount of new stratigraphic and log data has been recorded which will be incorporated into the regional geological model
Simon Thomson, Chief Executive Cairn Energy PLC, said:
"VR-1 is the sixth successful appraisal well on the SNE field and has encountered some of the best quality reservoirs found to date, some 5 kilometres from the original SNE-1 discovery well.
Resource numbers will be updated later this year following completion of appraisal operations. The drilling programme is currently ahead of schedule and significantly under budget. We look forward to commencing operations on SNE-6."
The VR-1 is being plugged and abandoned and the Stena DrillMAX drill ship is moving location to commence operations shortly on the SNE-6 appraisal and interference test well, ~2 km to the south of the SNE-1 discovery well.
Enquiries to:
Analysts / Investors
David Nisbet, Corporate Affairs Tel: 0131 475 3000
Media
Patrick Handley, David Litterick
Brunswick Group LLP Tel: 0207 404 5959
NOTES TO EDITORS
The JV has drilled eight wells in three years; with two basin opening discoveries in the first 12 months of operation in 2014, followed by four wells completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Cairn then announced a contingent resource upgrade with gross oil in place on SNE of more than 2.7 billion barrels. The third phase of drilling commenced in January 2017 with further evaluation of the SNE discovery.
Cairn has a 40% Working Interest (WI) in three blocks offshore Senegal (Sangomar Deep, Sangomar Offshore and Rufisque), Woodside has 35% WI, FAR Ltd 15% WI and PETROSEN, the national oil company of Senegal 10% WI.
Cairn Energy PLC ("Cairn") is one of Europe's leading independent oil and gas exploration and development companies and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Cairn has discovered and developed oil and gas reserves in a variety of locations around the world.
Cairn's business operations are now focused on frontier exploration acreage in North West Europe, North West Africa, North Atlantic and Mediterranean, underpinned by interests in development assets in the North Sea. Cairn has its headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland supported by operational offices in London, Norway and Senegal.
Cairn and Corporate Responsibility
Ø Cairn is a signatory to the UN Global Compact and our core values of respect, responsibility, relationships and our commitments towards people, the environment and society are enshrined in our Business Principles, which are available on the Cairn website at http://www.cairnenergy.com/index.asp?pageid=282
Ø Cairn became a participating company in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) in September 2013. The EITI is a coalition of governments, companies and civil society, who have adopted a multi-stakeholder approach to applying the EITI global standard promoting transparency of payments in the oil, gas and mining sectors http://eiti.org/
For further information on Cairn please see: www.cairnenergy.com