Audited Annual Report & Financial Statements for Period Ended 31 December 2013
LONDON, September 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Soma Oil & Gas Holdings Limited
(Company No. 08506858)
Soma Oil & Gas Exploration Limited
(Company No. 8619726)
Soma Management Limited
(Company No. 8619760)
(together "Soma Oil & Gas" or "the Company")
Exploration expenditure of approximately US$37 million to date
Soma Oil & Gas, the Somalia-focused oil and gas exploration company, announces that it has filed the Audited Annual Report & Financial Statements for Soma Oil & Gas Holdings Limited and its two wholly owned subsidiaries, Soma Oil & Gas Exploration Limited and Soma Management Limited, for the period from incorporation to 31 December 2013.
On 6 August 2013, Soma Oil & Gas Exploration signed a Seismic Option Agreement ("SOA") with the Ministry of National Resources of the Federal Government of Somalia. Under the terms of the SOA, Soma Oil & Gas Exploration is required to undertake an exploration programme in the Federal Republic of Somalia over a two year period. Soma Oil & Gas Exploration is required to spend US$15 million on the exploration programme, including a regional evaluation of historic geological data, undertaking a new 2D seismic survey and providing the Federal Government of Somalia with the processed seismic data by August 2015.
On 30 December 2013, Soma Oil & Gas Holdings Limited signed a funding agreement with Winter Sky Investments Limited for US$50 million.
Post-Period Events
In January 2014, SeaBird Exploration of Norway was contracted to carry out the 2D seismic acquisition programme offshore Somalia across an evaluation area and reconnaissance area approved by the Ministry of National Resources, Federal Government of Somalia. The survey commenced in February 2014.
In April 2014, Soma Oil & Gas presented the Regional Evaluation of historic geological data to the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources[1]. This data was gathered from various international oil companies that have previously operated in the region and from academic studies carried out by various organisations.
In June 2014, Soma Oil & Gas successfully completed the survey with the acquisition of 20,500 km lines of 2D seismic data. The seismic survey took just over 100 days and there were zero security and HSE incidents.
To date Soma Oil & Gas has spent approximately US$37.0 million on the exploration programme, more than double the required spend under the terms of the SOA.
Soma Oil & Gas has agreed to assist the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources to put in place the necessary resources to manage the data that is being delivered to it. As per the terms of the SOA, Soma Oil & Gas is assisting with the creation of a Dataroom in the new ministry building that is currently being rehabilitated and refurbished. In addition, as per a Capacity Building Paper signed in April 2014, the Company is assisting the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources with a moderate capacity building programme which will see the Company cover the salaries of a small number of experts, including geologists and geoscientists for a one-year period. It is expected that the capacity building costs will be offset against training fees under future Production Sharing Agreements.
Robert Sheppard, CEO of Soma Oil & Gas, said:
"The period under review was important for the establishment of Soma Oil & Gas, but it has been in 2014 that we really started to make significant progress having invested US$37 million on the exploration programme to date. We continue to process, reprocess and interpret the 2D seismic data acquired, and we expect to be able to present the results to the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Federal Government of Somalia around the turn of the year.
"We are very pleased that our work to date, along with the support of the Ministry and the Federal Government of the Republic of Somalia, has reignited interest in the country's highly prospective upstream sector."
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1. On 17 January 2014, the Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources succeeded the Ministry of National Resources in its responsibility for all issues relating to the hydrocarbon and minerals sector in and on behalf of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
For further information, please contact:
FTI Consulting
Ben Brewerton, Oliver Winters, Sara Powell
+44(0)203-727-1000
SOURCE Soma Oil & Gas
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