Frontier Exploration along East African Continental Margin: Key Challenges for Finding more Oil than Gas

Abstract

Hydrocarbon exploration of the East African continental margin has not received the same level of focus as the Atlantic margin. However, since the giant gas discoveries off the coasts of Tanzania and Mozambique, it has been a hotspot of frontier deepwater exploration activity. From Mozambique to Somalia this gigantic continental passive margin basin has been under-explored despite the offshore success stories from the Rovuma, Mozambique and Tanzania basins. The large volumes of gas discovered have raised the question whether any liquid hydrocarbons have been trapped. The large amount of gas might have been generated from oil prone Jurassic or older source rocks. Recently an oil discovery was reported from the Lamu basin, offshore Kenya in 2014. This newly established liquid hydrocarbon play is being studied in detail. Future hydrocarbon exploration campaigns may expand towards the north-eastern Somali basin and into the ultra-deep water areas of the Madagascar channel beyond the Davie ridge, guided by the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the margin. Key risks to the development of such plays will include source rock maturity, related to the nature of the underlying crust and associated heat flow, and regional hydrocarbon migration pathways. This extended abstract intends to summarize key challenges and potential risks in the exploration for oil rather than gas in the East African continental margin basins.