Page 11 - AfrOil Week 02 2021

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

FAR delays shareholder discussion

of planned Sangomar stake sale

SENEGAL AUSTRALIA’S FAR Ltd reported last week that Work on FPSO moves ahead
it had pushed the date of a shareholders meeting FAR issued its statement shortly after SOFEC,
to discuss the planned sale of a stake in RSSD, a subsidiary of Japan’s MODEC, said it had
the joint venture that aims to develop the Sango- recently begun cutting steel for the turret moor-
mar oilfield offshore Senegal, back from January ing system of the floating production, stor-
21 to February 18. age and off-loading (FPSO) vessel that will be
FAR scheduled the meeting with the intent installed at the Sangomar block.
of securing approval for its divestment of a The company took this step within the
minority stake in RSSD to Woodside Energy, framework of its contract with Woodside for
the Australian company that serves as operator performing engineering, procurement and
of the project. However, it is changing its plans construction (EPC) work on the external tur-
in light of a takeover bid received from Remus ret mooring systems and ancillary systems of
Horizons, a private investment fund. the Sangomar FPSO, which is being built by
Last month, the fund said it was willing to MODEC. The Japanese company expects to
pay AUD209.6mn ($161.6mn) for 100% of complete and commission the vessel in 2023.
equity in FAR. It also stated, though, that its offer “This is an important milestone for SOFEC
was contingent on the RSSD stake remaining in and the RSSD joint venture,” said Sam Nasr, a
that company’s portfolio of assets. project manager for SOFEC. “We have made
In a statement, FAR stressed that Remus great progress in engineering design over the
Horizons’ offer was not binding and that no fur- past year, with many of our direct staff and
ther delays were anticipated. It also said, though, subcontractors working from home and col-
that its stockholders needed more space to con- laborating via various electronic means. These
sider the additional information that the invest- challenging times have provided for unique pro-
ment fund has furnished on financial and other ject execution models, and we can say we have
aspects of its bid. successfully met that challenge. Now we can get
“This will enable further time for FAR share- into the fabrication phase of the turret mooring
holders to see if the Remus proposal eventu- system. We have tremendous confidence in our
ates, [and] if so, assess its merits and consider turret fabrication yard to meet our strict quality
the Woodside sale on the basis of more detailed requirements, stay on schedule and maintain a
information,” it stated. safe environment during construction.”
The company went on to say that it was work- The Sangomar licence area includes the three
ing to arrange payment to RSSD of $8.96mn plus fields – Rufisque, Sangomar Offshore and San-
interest for the November 2020 cash call and of gomar Deep Offshore – that give the RSSD joint
$6.48mn plus interest for the December 2020 venture its name. Oil was discovered at the block
cash call. Remus has indicated that it is willing in 2014, and RSSD has estimated its recoverable
to extend a $50mn bridge loan to FAR in order reserves at 645mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe),
to help that company cover its share of invest- including 485mn barrels of crude oil and 160mn
ment obligations on this project, the statement boe of natural gas.
said. The Australian company is not obligated to Production is slated to begin in 2023, after
accept this loan, the details of which have yet to the FPSO is delivered to the Sangomar Deep
be made public. Offshore field. ™

RSSD’s licence area includes three fields (Image: FAR Ltd)

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