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lundin Petroleum.
Lundin Petroleum has signed Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) for the exploration and production of oil and gas in four Ogaden Basin blocks in southern Ethiopia and in the Adigala Area, northern Ethiopia.
Introduction
As part of an ongoing review and evaluation of a number of sedimentary basins in the Horn of Africa, Lundin Petroleum identified the Ogaden Basin as being highly prospective and underexplored. Lundin Petroleum has entered into two PSCs as operator with 100% interest, covering four blocks. In addition, a PSC covering the Adigala Area has been acquired on a minimum work programme.
Exploration
The Ogaden Basin covers around one-third of Ethiopia, an area of around 350,000km and is located in the south-eastern part of the country. The basin is licensed into 21 blocks with Blocks 2, 6, 7 and 8 covering approximately 47,500 km. To put this area in perspective, a United Kingdom offshore licence block covers 220km so these two PSCs cover the equivalent of 111 UKCS blocks. The blocks lie immediately west of the Hilala and Calub gas and condensate fields, discovered in the early 1970’s that are estimated to contain 4 Tcf of gas.
The Ogaden Basin is characterized by deep, asymmetrical grabens separated by internal highs as a result of a rift system that was active during Late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic times. Basin sag took place and since the Late Cretaceous, there have been periods of compression and structuration.
In the Ogaden Basin, the Permian to Jurassic sedimentary succession reaches a thickness of up to 10 km in the deeper parts and includes non-marine to deep marine clastics, shallow-to-deep marine carbonates and evaporates. This sedimentary succession has proven petroleum potential.
