Senegal's offshore oil plans inch ahead

Cairn seeks to manage expectations, as reserve estimates grow

Cairn Energy is pushing on with exploration and appraisal around its existing Senegalese offshore oil finds, as it seeks to move ahead with what could be one of the largest frontier oil developments of the next few years. The explorer says it doesn't want to fall into the trap of promising an overly ambitious schedule to a government eager to see early returns from the project, but the low prevailing drilling costs still make rapid progress attractive. A third phase of exploration drilling got underway in early 2017, using the Stena DrillMax rig, with two appraisal wells planned and several further ones possible, including on new exploration prospects. The first of the appraisal wells, SNE-5