The Australian oil and gas company Woodside has reaffirmed that first oil from the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 in Senegal remains on track for 2023. Earlier in June 2020, the Senegalese president stated that the country has been forced to postpone its first oil and gas projects by up to 2 years because of the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, the Australian oil and gas company FAR has not paid the most recent cash call due on the project. If FAR cannot pay its debts within six months, it will be forced to forfeit its stake in the Sangomar field without compensation. In April 2020, FAR failed to raise debt for the project, due to adverse markets conditions.
In January 2020, the government of Senegal approved the Sangomar Development and Exploitation Plan along with the exploitation authorisation, submitted by Woodside, the operator of the Sangomar (formerly SNE) Field Development 1. Consequently, Woodside 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 Sangomar field is developed by a joint venture comprising Woodside Energy (35% and operator), Cairn Energy (40% stake), FAR (12.5%) and Petrosen (10%). 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.