Paper submitted to GESGB Conference (G-CON) 2026, by Thomas Hansen (TGS)
Introduction
With the announcement from the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) that they have spud the Curad-1 well in April this year (2026) (figure 1) and additional prospects in nearby license blocks waiting to be drilled, Somalia is beginning a new chapter in exploration.
With only 2 offshore wells, the most recent being the Meregh-1 drilled over 40 years ago in 41m water depth and with the deepwater area yet to be tested, offshore Somalia is a frontier basin with significant potential.
As with all frontier and emerging basins, understanding petroleum system elements and predicting play fairways is an important part of the exploration workflow. These elements remain untested in the deepwater area offshore Somalia. However, despite the lack of offshore well data, an extensive 2D seismic database and onshore wells provide valuable insights into reservoir, source intervals and traps.