The first stage of a planned ongoing works program is the US$3.7 airborne survey of the Taoudeni Basin acreage – the five blocks (numbered 1,2,3,4 and 9) covering 193,200 square kilometres extending from the border of Mauritania.
This is the first airborne study focused on the entire Taoudeni Basin, according to Baraka chief operating officer Dr Satyavan Reymond.
“The commitment follows a positive assessment of the blocks during the first exploration period of the production sharing agreements,” Reymond said this morning.
“The assessment of results from the PSAs’ first exploration period provided Baraka with a greater understanding of the Taoudeni Basin, specifically the potential location of the Silurian shale within the oil window and the identification of very large structures with potential for Infracambrian gas discoveries.
“The technical assessment has now identified the Taoudeni Basin’s similar characteristics to those that exist within the prolific hydrocarbon basins in Algeria and Libya to the north, where exploration areas focusing on the Infracambrian plays have been recently opened to the public.”
Based on the studies conducted so far, Baraka believes that the Taoudeni Basin 30,000 and 80,000 square kilometres of Silurian shale within the oil window.
The airborne survey is intended to let Baraka better define the distribution of the Silurian shale within the oil window and provide more definite targets for future oil and gas exploration. It is planned to start before the end of the year and to be completed by June 2006.
The survey will fly from the northern Malian town of Timbouktou and will consist of radiometrics (235,400 line kilometres), magnectics (235,400 line kilometres) and a gravimetry survey (44,346 line kilometres).
Subject to the outcome of this initial survey, a higher line density survey is being planned for areas of interest, coupled with an additional geochemistry program.
Worley Parsons GPX will carry out the gravimetry survey for Baraka. The expert group UTS Geophysics will be responsible for the magnetic and radiometric survey. Both companies have been chosen because of their experience in West Africa.
Baraka also announced that its administration manager Corinne Perrin had successfully coordinated a donation of relief supplies to parts of northern Mali recently been affected by severe drought and famine. The donation of relief aid, consisting of 60 tonnes of cereals, has been jointly made by Baraka and the contractors involved in the airborne survey.
Distribution of cereals is ongoing under the supervision of the Mali Government food security agency (Commissariat à la sécurité alimentaire).
