Soma Oil & Gas Exploration, a Somalia-focused exploration company, today issued its audited annual report and financial statements for 2013.
On 6 August 2013, Soma signed a Seismic Option Agreement (SOA) with the Ministry of National Resources of the Federal Government of Somalia. Under the terms of the SOA, Soma is required to undertake an exploration program in the Federal Republic of Somalia over a two-year period. Soma is required to spend US$15 million on the exploration program, including a regional evaluation of historic geological data, undertaking a new 2D seismic survey and providing the Federal Government of Somalia with the processed seismic data by August 2015.
In April 2014, Soma presented the regional evaluation of historic geological data to the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources. This data was gathered from various international oil companies that have previously operated in the region and from academic studies carried out by various organizations.
In June 2014, Soma successfully completed the survey with the acquisition of 20,500km of 2D seismic data. The seismic survey took just over 100 days and there were zero security and HSE incidents.
To date, Soma has spent approximately US$37 million on the exploration program, more than double the required spend under the terms of the SOA.
Soma has agreed to assist the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources to put in place the necessary resources to manage the data that is being delivered to it. As per the terms of the SOA, Soma Oil & Gas is assisting with the creation of a Dataroom in the new ministry building that is currently being rehabilitated and refurbished.
In addition, as per a Capacity Building Paper signed in April 2014, the company is assisting the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources with a moderate capacity building program, in which Soma will cover the salaries of a small number of experts, including geologists and geoscientists, for a one-year period. It is expected that the capacity building costs will be offset against training fees under future Production Sharing Agreements.
Robert Sheppard, CEO of Soma Oil & Gas (pictured at right), said:
"The period under review was important for the establishment of Soma Oil & Gas, but it has been in 2014 that we really started to make significant progress, having invested US$37 million on the exploration program to date. We continue to process, reprocess and interpret the 2D seismic data acquired, and we expect to be able to present the results to the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Federal Government of Somalia around the turn of the year.
"We are very pleased that our work to date, along with the support of the Ministry and the Federal Government of the Republic of Somalia, has reignited interest in the country's highly prospective upstream sector."
Related OE news:
Soma hopes to crack Somalia, 6 June 2014
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