Kosmos Finishing Tortue Test, Then Will Scout for Oil
As part of its effort to monetise gas offshore Mauritania-Senegal, Kosmos Energy began a drill stem test (DST) at the Tortue-1 gas field August 2.
CEO Andrew Inglis told analysts on August 7 he expects this DST, being drilled by the Atwood Achiever drillship, now to be completed this month - earlier than some had expected.
The DST is intended to define the number of wells needed for a final investment decision (FID) in 2018 on the Tortue floating LNG project, he said, adding that “early results from the DST – particularly the quality of the gas reservoir -- underpin the way forward to producing one of the lowest-cost LNG projects.” If the FID is taken next year, then the schedule is for Tortue -- which Kosmos discovered only in 2015 -- to produce first LNG in 2021.
Kosmos is partnered in its drilling by BP, which is expected to become operator if FID is taken on the LNG scheme. Asked about the possibility that BP might also be offtaker from the project, Inglis said: “We have access to a company [BP] that is a potential buyer of the LNG. We’re in conversations with the governments about that as an option, but evaluating other options too. BP believes there is a market for this LNG early into the next decade.”
Inglis also reported progress with ministries in both countries towards an inter-governmental agreement (IGA), and also with partners on a unitisation agremeent of all blocks that collectively form the Greater Tortue complex.
Tortue-1 is 285km southwest of Nouakchott, in water depth of 2,700 meters in the Tortue Ouest prospect, on the C-8 block offshore Mauritania. But it forms part of a wider Greater Tortue complex spanning 80km north and 80km south of the Mauritania-Senegal maritime boundary estimated to hold 25 trillion ft3 of gas – with potential upside to more than 50 trillion ft3 of gas, according to Kosmos.
Drilling for oil prospects, post-DST
Once the Tortue DST is complete, Kosmos expects drilling activity to move to three other prospects where it and BP hope to find some oil: Hippocampe on C8 where drilling it’s hoped will start late August, Lamantin in 4Q2017 (also offshore Mauritania), and Requin-Tigre (offshore Senegal) by end-2017.
Inglis told analysts that Lamantin is currently viewed as “our best chance for finding black oil in the basin” while Requin-Tigre is gas prone and might boost the basin's overall estimated gas resources to 60 trillion ft3.
Olivier de Souza, Mark Smedley