Exploration history
Petroleum exploration in the country began in 1912 when an oil seep at Dagah Shabel, 38 km south-east of Berbera, was reported. In 1959 Standard Vacuum (Mobil and Esso) drilled three dry wells (Dagah Shabel-1, -2, and -3) near the Dagah Shabel oil seep, without the aid of subsurface control. One of the wells recovered free oil from the Wanderer limestone (Upper Jurassic) and Nubian sandstone (Upper Cretaceous). However, no oil was recovered from the follow-up wells.
Interest in oil exploration recommenced in the late 1970s and, in 1980, GECO conducted an extensive offshore speculative seismic survey in the Gulf of Aden for the Somali government. In the same year a vast concession known as the Guban concession was awarded to a consortium consisting of two oil companies, the Quintana Oil Company and Hunt Oil Company. They conducted a detail exploration programme which included an aeromagnetic survey and a seismic programme over onshore blocks 32 and 35. However, after two years they relinquished the concession.
Exploration interest in the country intensified in the mid 1980s during which most of the concessions were awarded to different oil companies (Fig. 2). The Hunt and Quintana concession was divided into two with one part awarded to Chevron and the other to a partnership of Amoco and International Petroleum Corporation. Phillips and Agip also held concessions in the country. Shell was awarded an offshore concession which encompassed most of the Gulf of Aden coastline. However, it relinquished that in 1984 after the failure of two wells (Bandar Harshau-1 and Dab Qua-1), although oil shows were encountered in pre-rift Eocene carbonates and post-rift clastics. The two wells were drilled in block M-10 in water depths of around 300 m.
All of the oil companies operating in the country at the time including Amoco, Chevron, Agip, and Conoco declared force majeure on 11 July, 1989 due to continued civil unrest.
Hydrocarbon plays
The most compelling evidence that oil and gas accumulations may exist in Somaliland, as illustrated in Figs. 4-7, include:
Occurrence of oil seeps at Dagah Shabel.
Very good oil shows from several zones in most of the wells drilled including Dagah Shabel wells, Biyo Darer-1, Bandar Harshau-1, and Dab Qua-1.Occurrence of mature oil-prone source beds with sufficient levels of organic carbon, together with potential reservoir rocks and structures in a variety of geological settings.A number of Jurassic rift basins as well as Oligocene- Miocene sedimentary basins. These include Berbera/Guban (conjugate of Balhaf basin, Yemen), Daban, Las Dureh, Raguda, Al Mado (conjugate of the Masilah basin in Yemen ), and Nogal basins.
Widespread and appreciable thickness of porous and permeable reservoir rocks together with sealing rocks of Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary in age.
Evidence of structural growth during Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary times, which resulted in the formation of structural and stratigraphic traps.
Daban Basin Saxiil
Potential gas.
Bandar Harshau-1 -Sanaag
Potential gas and oil.
Dagah Shabel -Saaxil
Good oil source.
Dab Qua-1 -Sanaag?
Very good oil source.
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