Spectrum Secures Contract for 2D Seismic Offshore Somalia

Spectrum ASA has announced it has entered into a Multi-client master co-operation agreement with the federal government of Somalia to acquire approximately 28,000 km of long offset 2D seismic data offshore south Somalia during a signing ceremony on September 5th at the SYL Hotel, Mogadishu.

The new acquisition has been specifically designed to complement 20,000 km of existing seismic that was acquired in 2014 by Seabird Exploration under contract from oil explorer Soma Oil and Gas with the data placed in the Ministry’s data room in Mogadishu, as well as a data room in London and a virtual data room.

Under a seismic option agreement with Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Federal Government of Somalia Soma oil and gas was set to benefit from blocks with an area of up to 60,000 sq km. Spectrum has also been granted the marketing rights for this data.

Together, these seismic surveys will allow the in-depth study of hydrocarbon prospectivity offshore Somalia, which lies in close proximity to major discoveries on the East African margin.

Spectrum says it will use its global reach to market both data sets and raise industry interest.

At the signing ceremony the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, His Excellency Mohamed Mukhtar Ibrahim, said the acquisition will kick-start exploration in the country while Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia Omar Abdirashid A. Sharmarke believes the seismic data can lead to good decision-making and a guided exploration strategy.

“This historic seismic data agreement will be the resumption of the exploration program of the hydrocarbon reserves of our country, which will be a turning point for the economic development of our nation,” said Mukhtar.

In 2014 Seabird acquired over 20,500 km lines of 2D seismic data across a 114,000 sq km offshore evaluation area.