Oil and gas company Cairn Energy has spudded the fourth exploration well in the ongoing evaluation program offshore Senegal, testing the SNE oil discovery.

According to Far Ltd, a partner in the project, the SNE-4 well was spudded during the weekend using the Ocean Rig Athena drillship.

The well is located 5km south-east of the SNE-1 discovery well, and is being drilled to appraise the eastern extent of the field and aiming to confirm the nature of the upper reservoirs in the oil zone.

The SNE-4 well is located in 940m water depth and will be drilled to a total depth of 3,020m TVD. It will be drilled and logged and is expected to take approximately four weeks to complete.

This further appraisal well in the SNE field will assist in progressing towards confirming the commercial viability of the field, Far Ltd said.

Far on Friday raised A$60 million to fund the exploration and appraisal of FAR’s offshore Senegalese permit. The company said the funds will enable Far sufficient capital to meet all its expected obligations for the next phase of evaluation which may include an additional two contingent wells.