Abstract: Offshore Socotra, Republic of Yemen: Potential for a New Hydrocarbon Province?

Shaun M Richardson, Winston F Bott, Tony C R Birse

A new plate reconstruction has enabled the Island of Socotra, currently located in the Gulf of Aden adjacent to the Somalian coast, to be confidently restored to its original spatial position, adjacent to the southern Omani coastline. New studies integrated with these plate reconstructions, have confirmed the presence of an untested Mesozoic graben, which trends across the Socotra platform. Fieldwork carried out in the region now enables a SE extension of the prolific Lower Cretaceous Qishn "play" (delineated in the Masilah basin, onshore Yemen) to be postulated offshore into the Gulf of Aden.

Following the award of offshore acreage adjacent to the Island of Socotra, exploration studies have confirmed the presence of the Qishn "play" both on the Island of Socotra, and offshore in the one available basin-margin control well. This work has also identified two additional plays: the Shuaiba-equivalent carbonates, which are prolific producing reservoirs in Central Oman; and the Permo-Triassic clastics, which may provide a new reservoir target for the region. Fieldwork has also identified Jurassic siliclastics outcropping on the Island, which may provide further reservoir potential.

Ongoing multidisciplinary studies, integrating the results of a detailed geophysical interpretation with high resolution structural-stratigraphic studies, have confirmed the presence of large structures within an undrilled Mesozoic rift-basin, which will be tested during 1995.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90956©1995 AAPG International Convention and Exposition Meeting, Nice, France