Drilling at Somalia’s first offshore oil well has reached the rock layers where signs of oil can begin to show, the head of the Somali Petroleum Authority said on Wednesday.
Authority chairman Eng. Abdulkadir Aden Mohamed told Somali National Television that the drill had passed through the Late Cretaceous layer and was now entering the Early Cretaceous, which he described as the critical stage. He said the remaining 2,000 metres are the most important part of the well and that drillers hope to reach the target depth in December.
The first 2,000 metres passed through sediment that revealed little, he said, but samples from that section are now ready for analysis. Eighteen core samples from beneath the seabed have arrived so far, with 15 more on the way. Turkish experts and the authority are analysing them together and comparing them with 3D seismic data.
The authority also plans to let students at the Somali National University use the drilling data, and is preparing a facility to store samples taken at every 100-metre interval.
Drilling of the Curad-1 well began in April 2026, led by Turkey’s state oil company TPAO using the deepwater drillship Cagri Bey. The well lies about 372 kilometres northeast of Mogadishu. A commercial discovery has not been confirmed.
Source: Dawan Africa.
