While the company still maintains its assets in Ireland and Gabon, it is giving some of the other assets on the Atlantic Margin the cold shoulder.

 

In Morocco's Doukkala Basin, Woodside has elected to relinquish the Rabat Ultra Deep Reconnaissance Licence (75%), west of the Rabat Deep Offshore permits where it is considering a well in 2018-19 with Eni and Chariot Oil & Gas.

 

Woodside secured the ultra-deepwater licence in 2014, when it put together the bulk of its Atlantic Margin portfolio.

 

The company took an interest in the 36,737sq.km area in the under-explored basin, pledging to take 2D seismic survey and geological studies to assess the potential of the area where water depths range from 1700m and 4400m.

 

At the time Woodside said it was not deterred by the overall lack of success in exploring the country's offshore region, where there is just one well per 10,000sq.km, well below the global average of 80 wells per 10,000sq.km

 

It has also elected to scale back its interests elsewhere along the margin in Nova Scotia, offshore Canada, where it has ditched its interests in ELs 2431, 2432, 2433, 2434.

 

Nova Scotia was attached to Morocco around 300 million years ago and shares certain geological similarities.

 

In 2014 Woodside secured a 20% interest in the Scotian Basin leases from BP over a 14,000sq.km area.

 

While there were early plans to drill this year to complement its position in Morocco, with a disappointing pair of wells for Shell in the adjacent Shelbourne Basin, Woodside has withdrawn, feeling there are better opportunities elsewhere.

 

Last April BP decided to delay the drilling of up to seven wells until at least mid-2018.

 

The decision to drop the permits leaves it still exposed to Gabon, Senegal and Ireland.

 

In Senegal, Woodside is about to drill its first wells of the year.

 

As Energy News reported yesterday, drilling of SNE-5 will spud before the end of the month. 

 

The Senegal drilling is aimed at removing some uncertainties around the upper reservoirs at SNE, and could be followed up with further exploration wells in the wide area, with funding nominally allocated for one well.

 

That will be followed by the spudding of the first of up to seven wells in Myanmar in February. 

 

Woodside will drill two sidetracks, starting with Thalin-1B (40%), to appraise an earlier Rakhine Basin gas discovery, which it considers a potential opportunity to fast-track production.

 

The partners have also agreed to drill one exploration well each in Block A-6 and Block AD-7, although the campaign has the scope for three contingent wells.

 

Two mature candidates have been worked up for drilling.

 

Closer to home, what could be Woodside's only Australian well, the potentially play-opening Swell-1 in the Beagle Sub-basin, will spud in the second quarter.

 

Woodside has also said it is planning an exploration well in the Luna Muetse block, offshore Gabon, in 2017 or 2018, with a well in Morocco in the same window.

 

Woodside has also relinquished its hold over part of the Ulleung Basin, South Korea, after disappointing deepwater drilling. Woodside had been in Block 6-1 in the East Sea from around a decade.