Horn sees petroleum system in Somalia wildcat

April 13, 2012
Horn Petroleum Corp., Vancouver, BC, said its still-drilling Shabeel wildcat in Puntland, Somalia, has confirmed the presence of an active petroleum system in the Dharoor Valley.

Horn Petroleum Corp., Vancouver, BC, said its still-drilling Shabeel wildcat in Puntland, Somalia, has confirmed the presence of an active petroleum system in the Dharoor Valley.

Horn, operator, said the Shabeel well is at 2,703 m where 9-5/8-in. casing is set. It has been drilled through primarily tight limestones and shales of Lower Tertiary to Upper Cretaceous age and encountered a 355-m section of Upper Cretaceous sands and shales of the Tisje/Jesomma formations at 1,660 m.

The sands in the interval exhibited oil and gas shows, and petrophysical analysis of downhole electrical logs indicates a potential pay zone 12-20 m thick in the section, the company said. Attempts to sample formation fluids using a wireline formation tester were not successful, and thus the zone will require cased-hole testing to confirm whether it is oil bearing.

At a depth of 2,015 m a thick section of tight limestones and shales was encountered extending to the present depth of 2,703 m that is believed to correspond to the Upper Cretaceous Gumburo formation.

Horn and partners plan to drill ahead to the originally planned 3,800 m to evaluate the primary and secondary reservoir targets in the Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic intervals equivalent to the main productive section seen in analogous fields in Yemen’s Masila and Shabwa basins.

A testing program including the zones of interest seen to date and any deeper potential pay zones identified will be agreed with partners at that time. Upon completion of this well, Horn will move the rig to the Shabeel North location which is nearly built.

Horn is operator with 60% interest in the Dharoor and Nugaal blocks in a Jurassic rift basin in Puntland, Somalia. Perth independents Range Resources Ltd. and Red Emperor Resources NL each have 20%.