Total SA has acquired Oil Search Ltd.’s 40% interest in Block 3 (Gardan) in the eastern part of Yemen’s Marib-Shabwah basin.
The gas pipeline from Block 18 fields to the Yemen LNG liquefaction plant at Balhaf on the Gulf of Aden crosses the southern part of Block 3.
Total will be operator of the 2,954 sq km block, and its partners are OMV AG of Austria, MND Exploration & Production Ltd. of the Czech Republic, and Yemen General Corp. for Oil & Gas.
Total also operates East Shabwa Block 10 in the Masila basin with 28.57% interest and has a 15% nonoperated interest in Jannah Block 5 in the Marib-Jawf basin. Total operates blocks 70 and 72 with 50.1% and 36% interests, respectively, and has a 40% nonoperated interest in blocks 69 and 71.
Oil Search noted that its remaining asset in Yemen is its 34% operated interest in Block 7 (Al Barqa), which contains Al Meashar oil field, discovered in 2010. Oil Search plans a 2D seismic on prospective areas of Block 7, which will be shot this year subject to the political and security situation.
Alan Petzet | Chief Editor Exploration
Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.
Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.
