131, 190 & 206 Offshore – Somalia
About the Permits
In March 2024, Liberty Petroleum signed of three Production Sharing Agreements (“PSA’s”) between the Federal Government of Somalia and Liberty’s affiliated company, PetroQuest Africa Corporation.
The three contracts for Blocks 131, 190 & 206 are located offshore Somalia and have an initial 5 year term during which Liberty will evaluate existing seismic data with a view to high-grading areas to acquire 3D seismic surveys. Subject to the results of the 3D seismic there is scope to undertake drilling during the initial term of the work programme obligation and during the 2 renewal periods.
Block 131 comprises 5000 km2 on the North-eastern flank of the Mid-Somalia High. Two petroleum plays are present, a lower Jurassic oil play and middle to upper Jurassic aged carbonate oil play with seismically mapped features that are 10’s of kilometres in length. Stratigraphic traps comprising the reefs are mappable as are large 100 km2 combined traps systems overlain by an interpreted thick upper Jurassic shale.
Block 190 comprises 4978 km2 on the northern margin of the Juba-Lamu Basin. Three key petroleum plays include a passive margin sequence of shales and sandstones of Tertiary age, deposited at the mouths of antecedent rivers and deltas within the Baraawe Thrust Belt. Both an upper and lower Cretaceous roll-over is clearly imaged on the seismic. At the south-eastern margin of the block, middle-to-upper Cretaceous deep-water fan systems are clearly imaged and may form both stratigraphic and combined traps.
Block 206 comprises 5000 km2 within the central to north-eastern portion of the Juba Basin. Two key petroleum plays are present, one dominated by structural compression and a second stratigraphic play, comprising lobate basin floor fans of Cretaceous age, not unlike those that host the super-giant oil discoveries offshore Namibia, such as Venus-1X (2022), Graff-1X (2022) and Mopane-1X (2024).