Somaliland Extends Bid Round for Hydrocarbon Exploration Until December 2009

HARGEISA, Somaliland--(Business Wire)--
The Somaliland Ministry of Water and Mineral Resources (Ministry) announced
today that the Country`s first bid round for hydrocarbon concessions has been
extended by three months. The deadline for final submission of bids has been
pushed to December 15, 2009 and concessions will be awarded on March 15, 2010.

The bid round includes eight concession blocks comprised of more than 89,624
square kilometers of onshore and offshore areas. The bid round was originally
scheduled to finalize and award bids in August and December, respectively.

The geology off the coast of Somaliland is analogous to the oil-producing basins
in nearby Yemen that have yielded several discoveries to date. Yemen`s Balhaf
Graben Basin and Somaliland`s Berbera Basin contain striking similarities in
fault trends and structural complexity. Additional indicators of hydrocarbon
reserve potential are the naturally-occurring oil and gas seeps at Dagah Shabel,
and most historical wells in the area contain multiple zones with shows of oil
and/or gas.

In preparation for the Somaliland licensing round, TGS-NOPEC Geophysical
Company, ASA (TGS) acquired 5,300 kilometers of seismic, gravity and magnetic
data in the offshore areas and 34,700 kilometers of high resolution aeromagnetic
data covering all known petroleum basins. The surveys mark the first new
geophysical data acquired in the area in almost 30 years. Data acquisition was
completed in 2007-2008, and TGS used this data along with existing well logs and
interpreted data to create comprehensive interpretation reports for the
Ministry. The reports, as well as the newly acquired geophysical data and well
logs are all multi-client products to be exclusively marketed by TGS on behalf
of the Ministry.

The timing for this historic bid round is as follows:

February 19, 2009 - Bid round opens

December 15, 2009 - Final submission of bids

March 15, 2010 - Expected award of concessions

Minister of Water and Mineral Resources
Republic of Somaliland
Mr. Qasim Sh. Yusuf Ibrahim, + 252 2528766
MWNR.info@gmail.com
http://www.somalilandgov.com/

Copyright Business Wire 2009