Senegal’s national strategy for electrification, known as the Emerging Senegal Plan (Plan Senegal Emergent), was continuously interpreted to mean a strategy to move from heavy fuels to natural gas and renewable energy. The goal is to reduce importation and not completely eliminate fuel from the energy mix.
As Senegal’s first oil development offshore, the Sangomar Field Development Project marks a new era. The drilling operations offshore Senegal will provide a vital economic boost. The Sangomar field, formerly the SNE field, is located 100km south from Dakar. The project was developed in 2020. First oil production is expected to be in 2023.
Petrosen, Senegal’s national oil company has helped the Ministry of Energy attract small and large petroleum companies. This support was made possible by the continuous promotion efforts of the Ministry of Energy over the past decades. A series of discoveries off Senegal’s coast since 2014 has piqued interest in corporations like Woodside, Capricorn Senegal Limited (a subsidiary to Cairn Energy PLC), and FAR Limited.
The last year’s approval of the new Petroleum Code updated Senegal’s legal framework for oil and gas. This code reflects the spirit of the new constitution which says that all natural resources in a country belong to their people. The code’s profit-sharing mechanisms give Petrosen more favourable terms. They can have a minimum 10% stake in discovery projects and up to 30% in development and exploitation projects.
Petrosen has an 18% participation in the Rufisque Offshore and Sangomar Offshore joint ventures for the Sangomar area. A 10% participation is held in the RSSD evaluation area.
Woodside, an Australian petroleum exploration and production company, began the drilling campaign for the first phase in the Sangomar project in July 2021 when the Ocean BlackRhino drill vessel arrived.
The first phase of Sangomar Field Development will include floating production storage and offloading facility (FPSO), named Leopold Sedar Senghor with a daily production capability of 100,000 barrels. It also includes 23 subsea-wells and supporting infrastructure.
It is notable that Woodside’s participation in the RSSD joint venture grew to
82% for Sangomar exploitation after the fulfillment of Far Limited’s entire participating interest on July 7, 2021.
MODEC
MODEC won the Woodside Sangomar FPSO’s Front End Engineering Design contract (FEED) in February 2019, and the FPSO purchase agreement following the Sangomar Field Development Final Investment Decision (FID), in January 2020.
An External Turret mooring system from SOFEC, Inc. will permanently moor the FPSO vessel at a depth of approximately 780m. Delivery is scheduled for early 2023.
The FPSO will store minimum 1,300,000. barrels crude oil. It will also be capable of processing 100,000 barrels crude oil, 3.6 Million m3 of gasoline, and 145,000 barrels per day of water injection.
Nexans
Nexans was awarded the contract to design and manufacture 46 km of umbilicals in the Sangomar offshore Senegal field. Nexans’ specialized factory, Halden, Norway, will manufacture the umbilicals. They will provide critical hydraulic control and instrumentation services for a stand-alone FPSO complex.
Nexans will supply 13,471 m of dynamic umbilicals that can be deployed from the north to the south. The four phases of development will include 9.503 meters main static umbilicals and 8,719 metres of production umbilicals. There will also be 14,650m injection umbilicals.
Nexans’ Halden facility in Halden will supply both static and dynamic umbilicals for each phase, with deliveries starting in 2022.
Senegal’s oil industry is poised for prosperity. The first oil production in 2023 in the country will help the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also assist in its development ambitions.
