By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 27 -- The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic has promulgated an international licensing round to cover 12 blocks in the Atlantic Ocean off disputed Western Sahara in northwestern Africa.
The SADR offered the 12 offshore blocks out of 18 blocks it has delineated. The blocks cover 15,417 to 23,172 sq km each in 0 to 3,600 m of water in the Aaiun basin. The area does not produce and is sparsely explored. The round is to close Oct. 31, 2005.
A map, basic geological information, and petroleum legislation are available through the website of Wessex Exploration Ltd., London.
Wessex, which is analyzing data from the Aaiun onshore, noted that the Mesozoic and Tertiary age basin covers 235,000 sq km on land and offshore to the continental shelf break and a further 80,000 sq km of continental slope to the abyssal plain. No working petroleum system has been proved in the basin.
Morocco claims Western Sahara, which lies between Mauritania and Morocco.
