Genel Energy stated the barrier to drilling Somaliland’s first oil well in 30 years is over, which will begin by the end of 2023
On Tuesday Genel Energy plc CEO Bill Higgs announced on Q4 2021 results, at earnings conference Call, participated Esa Ikaheimonen – Chief Financial Officer, Paul Weir – Chief Operating Officer & Mike Adams – Technical Director
CEO Higgs, who spoke at the event stated, It is now 20 years since we began operating in the KRI, something that we are making marking this year through our Genel 20 initiative, this will see us expand the ambitions of our already notable social investments in Kurdistan. So watch this space as the year moves on. It clearly had a positive impact with Tawke and Taq Taq having already generated over $20 billion for the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Esa Ikaheimonen, Chief Financial Officer, elaborating further added we are focused on further appraisal at Sarta, much more of that from Mike in a moment. And we are now particularly excited about the recent farm-out on Somaliland, reducing our equity from 100% to 51%. And as a result, we now see a route to drilling an exploration well there, in an area that has real potential. As a reminder, we’ve always said we will drill, but needed other people’s money for it. Now we’ve got it.
Genel Energy’s Technical Director Mike Adams, We have considered Somaliland’s exploration project a hidden gem in our portfolio for quite some time. A view now shared by our new partner, CPC, the state-owned Taiwanese National Oil Company, having formed into the license for a 49% non-operated interest late last year in a deal that saw us recover half of our historical back costs in upfront cash consideration along with an additional cash premium, more than sufficient to fund our share of a well in the block in late 2023, what would be a historic first well in Somaliland for over 30 years.
Technical Director Adams added, to remind you, the block is highly prospective, characterized by rocks analogous to the prolific Yemeni basins and in the event of what would be a play and basin opening discovery, the JV acreage position encompasses that entire basin. We have a strong feeling that the stars are aligning for Somaliland as a whole and this project specifically as some of the natural advantages are maturing in parallel. Our proximity to the deepwater port of Berbera on the Gulf of Aden shipping lane at a time when those facilities and infrastructure are developing at a pace, something we saw firsthand as a management team a couple of weeks back and all against the backdrop of exploration friendly oil prices.
Genel Energy’s Technical Editor Mike Adams who visited Somaliland at the end of last year affirmed, on 20th Dec 2021 during his trip “Somaliland is a highly-prospective and largely unexplored region, with a compelling technical case for the drilling of a well. Oil seeps confirm a working petroleum system, and one prospect alone could target over half a billion barrels…
