petroleum potential of somalia Rock the Foundation Convention,...

petroleum potential of somalia Rock the Foundation Convention, June 18-22, 2001

http://www.cspg.org/conventions/abstracts/2001abstracts/10-023.pdf#search=%22Somalia%20%22offshore%20oil%22%22

Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists

Petroleum potential of Somalia

Mohamud Arush*, Andrew Miall
Department of Geology, University of Toronto

ABSTRACT

Somalia is located within the horn of Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden south of the Arabian Peninsula, adjacent to the northwestern Indian Ocean, east of Ethiopia, and forms part of the North East African Region. Somalia could become a strategic area for the western economy, besides having the second longest coast in Africa; it is the gateway between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Somalia's political landscape changed lately with the establishment of a democratically elected parliament, election of a president and formation of government. Being potentially a rich oil producing country, the recent political development encouraged major European companies to sign for offshore oil exploration concession. Several other international companies whose activities were halted by "force major" may restart their operation soon.

Somalia has six major basin areas and several minor ones with thick sedimentary sequences ranging from Early Jurassic to Tertiary in age. The tectonic evolution of Somalia reflects the Jurassic-Cretaceous break-up of
Gondwana, including the separation of Madagascar and India and the opening of the Indian Ocean, the separation of Africa from Arabia, and the opening of the
Gulf of Aden. The Triassic-Cenozoic stratigraphy of Somalia could be described on the basis of six regional unconformity-bounded sequences. These sedimentary basins were formed by plate motion mainly of extensional style. Many structural features created by these movements are capable of trapping oil and gas. Petroleum systems of Somalia present areas with combination of source rock, reservoir, traps and seals, structure that have not been adequately tested by previous exploration. Somalia possesses all the requirements for a petroliferous province. Hydrocarbon has been generated in Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks. In eastern Africa, rich gas and oil-prone source rocks occur in the neighbouring countries very close to Somalia. Commercial hydrocarbons have been discovered in Yemen with similar geological formation. These units also occur in Somalia.