Liberty Petroleum, a US-based exploration company, has signed Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) for three deepwater blocks in Somalia. Through its subsidiary Petro Quest Africa, Liberty Petroleum will explore Blocks 131, 190 and 206.
The PSAs provide for a five-year exploration term and allows Liberty Petroleum to perform assessments and 3D seismic surveys. The data will be used to assess if drilling is viable.
To date, only two wells have been drilled offshore Somalia, both in shallow waters. The country is estimated to hold as much as 30 billion barrels of oil reserves.
About Blocks 131, 190 & 206
Block 131 covers 5000 km2 on the northeastern edge of the Mid-Somalia High. There are two petroleum plays present: a lower Jurassic oil play and a middle to upper Jurassic dated carbonate oil play, both of which have seismically recorded features spanning tens of km. The stratigraphic traps that make up the reefs are mappable, as are massive 100 km2 combined trap systems overlain by an assumed thick upper Jurassic shale.
Block 190 covers 4978 km2 on the northern edge of the Juba-Lamu Basin. Three important petroleum fields include a Tertiary-aged passive margin sequence of shales and sandstones deposited at the mouths of antecedent rivers and deltas in the Baraawe Thrust Belt. Both an upper and lower Cretaceous roll-over are readily seen on the seismic. At the south-eastern edge of the block, middle-to-upper Cretaceous deep-water fan systems are well imaged and may create both stratigraphic and combined traps.
Block 206 covers 5000 square kilometres in the Juba Basin’s middle to northeastern region. Two major petroleum plays exist: one characterised by structural compression and a second stratigraphic play made up of Cretaceous-aged lobate basin floor fans, similar to those that house super-giant oil finds offshore Namibia, such as Venus-1X (2022) and Graff-1X.
Liberty Petroleum CEO Lane Franks stated “We are aware of the responsibility that now lies on our shoulders to explore and hopefully develop the petroleum resources within these blocks in a manner that delivers maximum benefit to the people of Somalia.”
Source: Energy Ghana