A NEW HYDROCARBON PLAY AREA OFFSHORE SOCOTRA-ISLAND, REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

A new plate reconstruction has enabled the Island of Socotra, currently located in the Gulf of Aden adjacent to the Somalian coast, to be restored confidently to its original spatial position adjacent to the southern Omani coastline. Regional geological and geophysical evaluations integrated with this plate reconstruction 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 to British Gas E&P Ltd of a tract 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 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. 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.