Somali Petroleum Law close to full approval

May 31, 2019

Offshore staff

WOKING, UK – Somalia’s federal government has approved a new Petroleum Law and Revenue Sharing Agreement.

According to Spectrum Geo, this ratifies the terms outlined in the country’s first offshore licensing round, which was launched in February and is due to close on Nov. 7, 2019.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Faramaajo should soon sign the 2019 Petroleum Law into effect, having received support from all the federating Somali states.

Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, said: “The Ministry has worked successfully with the federal member states to develop an equitable and transparent framework to develop natural resources…

“Production-sharing agreements can now be signed, wherein the first phase will involve planning and mobilizing to acquire seismic data and the drilling of exploration wells over 2020 and 2021.”

Spectrum undertook acquisition and processing of 20,185 km (12,542 mi) of 2D long-offset seismic data to support the round. The data was acquired following a cooperation agreement with the federal government of Somalia and is said to complement 20,500 km (12,738 mi) of existing seismic data shot in 2014.

The design of the survey, over water depths ranging from 30-4,000 m (98-13,123 ft), is said to have allowed for seismic coverage over the shelf, slope and basin floor with dip, strike and recording time intervals suitable for defining various leads and prospects.

Spectrum applied modern processing algorithms to the raw data to optimize imaging of steeply-dipping extensional and compressional features and to illuminate subtle amplitude anomalies.

05/31/2019