Southwest Energy is in the process of negotiations with the Ministry of Mines, Ethiopia to reach to a production sharing agreement for the exploration area around Jimma.
The company has been in the process of carrying out a petroleum study on the Jimma concession in collaboration with the Ministry of Mines said Tewdros Ashenafi, Chairman and Chief Executive of Southwest Energy.
Southwest has agreed to take over the Jimma block pending some things that need to be finalized with the ministry he explained.
It is to be remembered that South West Energy has finalized 1640 line kilometers of 2D seismic survey of is concession in the Ogaden basin of Ethiopia.The first indigenous gas and oil company in Ethiopia, South West contracted the survey to GII a geophysics company completing the survey in nine months according to sources at the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines.
GII submitted the seismic data it collected from the South West concession in Degehabur zone of the Ogaden Basin to South West Energy and the MoM last week.
The survey will be interpreted by geophysicists to establish the locations where drilling will commence for the first explorative drilling.
The survey is notably one of the fastest and most efficient survey operation in the Ethiopian context said the sources.
It is also a significant accomplishment for a project undertaken by a native company in a sector traditionally reserved for foreign oil companies noted the sources at the ministry.
South West is currently in the process of acquiring a drilling rig and expects to launch the first well in the last quarter of this year.
Source: The Reporter