Woodside Petroleum has pre-empted the sale by Cairn Energy to Lukoil of its 40% stake in the Rufisque Offshore, Sangomar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore (RSSD) project in Senegal. Woodside will make an upfront payment of US$300m, along with contingent payments of up to US$100m. The transaction remains subject to approval by the Government of Senegal, as well as approval by Cairn Energy's shareholders and other customary conditions. Woodside Petroleum’s stake in the RSSD joint venture after completion of the acquisition will increase to 68% and the company will remain the operator. Other partners in the joint venture include FAR (15%) and Petrosen (10%).
According to Woodside Petroleum, the acquisition aims at protecting shareholder interests by removing the potential uncertainty of US sanctions applying to the Sangomar Field Development. In July 2020, Lukoil signed a deal with Cairn Energy to buy its entire 40% stake in RSSD project for US$400m.
The blocks include two discovered fields, Sangomar and FAN. In January 2020, the government of Senegal approved the Sangomar Development and Exploitation Plan along with the exploitation authorisation, submitted by Woodside Petroleum, the operator of the Sangomar (formerly SNE) Field Development 1. Subsequently, Woodside Petroleum executed the purchase contract for the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) and issued full notices to proceed for the drilling and subsea construction and installation contracts. The final investment decision (FID) on the Sangomar field was thus made in early 2020. Requiring an investment of US$1.2bn, the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 will target an estimated 230 Mboe and will consist of a FPSO vessel, with a capacity of around 100,000 bbl/d. First planned in 2021, its commissioning was delayed from 2022 to early 2023 in November 2019.