Edinburgh-based oil and gas company Cairn Energy announced the results of the FAN South-1 well in the South Fan prospect offshore Senegal.

“The well encountered hydrocarbon bearing reservoir … and oil samples were obtained …” said Cairn.

“Further work is being undertaken to integrate this discovery with FAN-1 to establish the potential commerciality of the deep water, basinal resource seen in these two wells.”

Cairn Energy CEO Simon Thomson said: “FAN South is our tenth well in Senegal in the last three years and our second well to encounter oil in the deep portion of the basin, adjacent to the FAN discovery.

“The results of FAN South will be integrated with FAN-1 and SNE to help the joint venture’s ongoing evaluation of the large, deep water basin potential offshore Senegal. 

“As planning for the phased development of the SNE field moves ahead, we will shortly commence operations on the SNE North prospect which has the potential to enhance our total resources in Senegal.”