Soma Completes Seismic Acquisition Offshore Somalia
Somalia-focused Soma Oil & Gas Exploration announced Friday that it has completed its offshore seismic data acquisition program that began in February.
The seismic program was carried out by SeaBird Exploration and concluded at the start of June with more than 13,000 line miles of 2D seismic data having been acquired across a 47,000-square mile offshore evaluation area. The processing of seismic data is expected to take until late 2014 to complete.
Soma Oil & Gas will then provide the processed data to Somalia's Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources. Under the terms of its agreement with the ministry, Soma Oil & Gas has the right to apply for production sharing agreements for an area of up to 23,000 square miles.
Soma CEO Robert Sheppard commented in a company statement:
"The completion of the 2D seismic acquisition programme is a significant milestone for both Soma Oil & Gas and the Federal Government of Somalia. The quantity and quality of seismic data acquired is at the top end of our expectations and importantly we have managed to complete the seismic acquisition program with no security or HSE incidents.
"Our efforts are now focused on the processing, reprocessing and interpretation of the seismic data in order to identify leads and prospects by the end of 2014. At that point, Soma Oil & Gas will be ready to apply for PSAs in the areas of most interest to the company.
"Somalia remains a significantly under-explored region despite large recent discoveries elsewhere in East Africa and Madagascar and we are continuing to assist the Federal Government of Somalia in accelerating the development of its oil and gas potential."
Somalian Minister of Petroleum H. E. Daud Mohamed Omar added:
"This significant milestone not only demonstrates the Federal Government's commitment to re-opening Somalia's oil and gas industry which will see economic and social developments for the country and the people of Somalia, but further confirms that the historic security risks associated with Somalia are continuing to diminish.
"The Federal Government is looking forward to further developing the hydrocarbons industry and engaging with international oil companies to conduct exploration work in Somalia."
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