Based on evidence of oil shows and good quality reservoir in the Jesomma, Horn Petroleum announced the partnership has decided to deepen the Shabeel North well in Puntland, Somalia, to evaluate the potential of the Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic sections.

The current revised total depth will be approximately 3,400 m (11,155 ft) and is expected to take an additional 15 to 20 days to reach that depth. The Jurassic section in the nearby Shabeel well had thin reservoir sands with oil and gas shows, but this section was determined to be not thick enough to warrant testing. These sands are expected to thicken basinward toward Shabeel North.

There also was evidence there may have been faulting in the well which could have cut out a significant portion of the basal reservoir section, which is not expected in Shabeel North.

“While we are obviously disappointed that the Jesomma sands tested wet, the overall results of the two wells drilled during this campaign are quite encouraging in the long-term prospects for oil potential of the basin,” said David Grellman, the company’s president and CEO. “We have confirmed a working petroleum system, good quality reservoirs, and thick impermeable sealing rocks.

“The two Jesomma structures drilled to date appear, subject to final petrophysical analysis, to have issues with the integrity of the trapping mechanism. We are still hopeful that the lower zones in the Shabeel North well may have favorable trapping geometries against the deeper thick carbonate and anhydrite sections seen in the original Shabeel well.”

The well is being operated by Horn Petroleum which holds a 60% working interest in the Dharoor and Nugaal Valley production-sharing agreements with working interest partners Range Resources (20%) and Red Emperor (20%). Africa Oil Corp. holds an equity interest in Horn Petroleum of approximately 45%.