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Range readies Puntland spud

By Barry Morgan


Calgary-based Africa Oil Corporation and junior partner Range Resources have mobilised a land rig and 12 containers of equipment from neighbouring Djibouti and the United Arab Emirates’ Jebel Ali yard to the Puntland port of Bossaso in northern Somalia.


Drilling of two back-to-back exploration wells will start in the Nugal basin, in Puntland, this July.

Plans to shoot 6500 kilometres of 2D seismic over the nearby Dharoor basin in Puntland’s extreme north were this week confirmed, with seismic crews contracted to prepare the ground next month before the survey kicks off in May.

Range retains 100% of Puntland's offshore acreage but exploration there likely awaits inteerst from potential farm-in partners, once local laws are fully in place and disputes over legislative legitiamcy are resolved with Somalia's Baidoa-based Transitional Federal Government.

This week's move represents a major boost to Puntland President Mohamud Muse Hersi's plans to orchestrate a resurgence of oil and gas exporation in the semi-autonomous region, enacting a new hydrocarbons and bringing in new players to replace players which departed after civil war broke out in 1991.


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26 March 2008 11:25 GMT |