In a statement this morning, FAR said this would be the largest 3D survey ever undertaken in the region and had the potential to place Senegal on the map as an investment destination.

To start in the second week of next month, the survey will be conducted by the MV Symphony seismic vessel, which will be shared with Italian group Edison, which is currently operating in an adjacent licence.

“The aggregate of this combined activity is likely to substantially upgrade activity in this relatively under-explored but highly prospective northwest African margin,” FAR said.

The 3D survey is designed to validate several potentially significant prospects and a number of leads that Hunt identified, based on existing 2D seismic data, as well as additional prospects.

The company’s offshore concessions, located in the Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea Bissau Basin, offer potential for world-class oil accumulations, according to FAR.

FAR holds a 30% stake in the Rufisque Offshore, Sangomar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore blocks. Operator Hunt Oil owns 60% and Senegalese state oil company Petrosen holds the remaining stake.

“The northwest African margin is relatively under-explored but hosts numerous recent, sizeable and intriguing discoveries, including the Woodside-operated Chinguetti and Tioff discoveries in adjacent Mauritania,” FAR said.

“Large closures have been identified at the Aptian carbonate and Cenomanian sandstone levels, along with numerous Senonian stratigraphic leads with significant upside potential exceeding 1 billion barrels recoverable within the licence.”

The Sangomar-Rufisque offshore licence covers an area of 14,981sq.km over the shelf, slope and basin floor.

FAR claims that the contract terms are among the best in the world, and have been recently improved after the Senegal Government reduced the tax rate to 25%.