Somalia hydrocarbon basins contiguous with Yemeni basins prior to rifting in the Gulf of Aden.
Yemeni basins contain 9 billion BOE reserves with current production of over 400,000 bpd.
Most production from Cretaceous Qishen and Jurassic Alif sandstone reservoirs sourced by Madbi Shales.
In Yemen between 1994 and 2006 there was an average discovery size of 96 million BOE recoverable reserves with a discovery success rate of 23%.
Once contiguous Somalia basins have identical geology and potential .
Concessions located in Puntland, a more stable and semi-autonomous region of Somalia.
The Nogal Valley and Dharoor Valley Blocks situated in northern Somalia cover the Nogal Basin and the Darin Basin, respectively.
Combined, the two blocks cover a very large area, with the Nogal Valley Block extending over approximately 12,849,479 acres, which encompasses the Nogal Basin. The Dharoor Valley Block extends over an area of 7,166,056 acres, encompassing the entire Darin Basin. These areas are very large and, with only 5 wells drilled, the area remains one of the least explored areas in North Africa.
The Nogal Basin covered by the Nogal Valley Block has been identified as having reservoir, source rock and trap potential. International oil and gas companies conducted exploration in the late 1980's in the region. During this exploration phase, a grid of 2D seismic was shot perpendicular to the axis of the rift system in the Nogal Basin. Based on interpreted maps this data shows a number of large, closed, fault-controlled structures.
In Somalia, AOC has identified numerous potentially large prospects in both the Dharoor and Nogal Blocks on seismic and will select future drilling locations in late Q4 2009. In addition, the Company will start its efforts to procure and mobilize a drilling rig.
