BP and Kosmos Energy will explore two blocks offshore the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe in the Gulf of Guinea, international media reported on Tuesday.

BP strikes off Senegal

Senegal

LONDON, May 8, 2017 – BP on Monday said it had made a “major” gas find on the Cayar Offshore Profond block offshore Senegal.

The find was made in the Yakaar-1 exploration well, drilled using the Atwood Achiever in close to 2,550 metres of water. The well was drilled to a total depth of some 4,700 metres.

“Yakaar-1 follows the earlier exploration success that led to the Tortue discovery and further confirms our belief that offshore Senegal and Mauritania is a world-class hydrocarbon basin,” the CEO for BP Upstream, Bernard Looney, said in a press release.

This latest discovery, combined with partner Kosmos Energy’s May 2016 Teranga discovery on the same block, “create the foundation for a further LNG hub in the basin,” BP wrote in its release.

BP and Kosmos Energy will continue exploration work offshore Senegal and Mauritania with three more wells through May 2018. Drill stem tests on the Teranga discovery will commence in mid-2017.

Between them, BP and Kosmos hold 33,000 square kilometres in offshore acreage, which is estimated to hold 1.42 tcm (50 tcf) of natural gas.

The cross-border Tortue field is estimated to hold 425 bcm (15 tcf) of discovered gas resources.