More oil progress offshore Senegal

A Scottish energy company focused on reserves offshore Africa said it's assessing data from a reservoir estimated to hold more than 2 billion barrels of oil.

Cairn Energy, which has headquarters in Edinburgh, said it's reviewing the results from its fifth appraisal well at the SNE basin off the coast of Senegal.

"The results will help narrow the range of SNE field volumes and also allow the joint venture time to fully integrate the results of SNE-5 prior to moving to appraisal well SNE-6," the company explained in a statement.

Cairn leads a joint venture that counts Australian and Senegalese companies as partners. In late February, minority partner FAR Ltd. announced the completion of SNE-5 ahead of schedule.

Last year, FAR said the SNE oil field in particular met the minimum threshold to be considered a commercial opportunity. That statement came less than two years after the field was discovered.

Cairn said most of the wells offshore Senegal have been completed ahead of schedule and under budget since operations began. The company estimates 2.7 billion barrels of gross-oil-in-place at the SNE discovery.

"The third phase of drilling commenced in January 2017 with further evaluation of the SNE discovery," the company said.

A January report from the International Monetary Fund finds foreign direct investment in Senegal is low, but expected to increase in part because of mining and related industries.