ION Geophysical and Somalia’s Puntland Petroleum and Minerals Agency (PPMA) entered into an agreement to complete a multi-client 2D regional seismic survey offshore Puntland, Somalia.
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Image from ION Geophysical. |
Puntland is officially the Puntland State of Somalia and is located in the northeastern region of Somalia.
The PuntlandSPAN survey is aiming to deliver more than 7600km of pre-stack depth-migrated data to better understand the area's architecture of the sedimentary basins and the hydrocarbon potential. PuntlandSPAN is currently in the planning stages, and is set to begin in 2Q 2015, pending the issue of environmental and reconnaissance permits.
ION says Puntland is considered highly prospective and regionally, it is similar to Yemen and Oman, where oil reserves have been discovered in Cretaceous and Jurassic formations. Both areas once formed a single landmass before the Gulf of Aden rifted and separated the Horn of Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. Puntland’s eastern offshore region is also a conjugate margin to India, where recent discoveries have been made; in the Indian Ocean, the program will test the continuation of Mesozoic failed rift basins, as well as the presence of a Karoo-aged rift system perpendicular to the coast.
According to ION, the PuntlandSPANsurvey is the first of its kind within Puntland’s jurisdiction and will assist the PPMA in delineating a block boundary scheme for future licensing activity.
“This region has been a site of significant hydrocarbon discoveries within the past two years and has attracted the interest of many exploration companies,” says Dr. Osman Salad Hersi, associate professor at the University of Regina and technical advisor to the Puntland Authority. “PuntlandSPAN is a well- needed survey that will bolster the interest of the exploration companies and confer significant leverage for the State’s endeavor to license blocks to the oil industry.”
“This survey will prove a highly valuable tool as Puntland begins to promote future licensing rounds for deepwater oil and gas exploration,” says Issa Farah, PPMA director. “Although this offshore domain is largely unexplored, the international oil and gas community has recently expressed keen interest in understanding the region’s viability.”
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