SouthWest Energy, an Ethiopian oil and gas company, announced the results of the Competent Persons Report (CPR), a study commissioned by the company and prepared by an independent consultant, Senergy (GB) Limited, for the company’s  Gambella basin block (an extension of the large oil producing Melut basin in South Sudan) and blocks 9A, 9 and 13 in the Jijiga basin, a part of the Ogaden basin in Ethiopia.

“I am very pleased to announce the results of the CPR by Senergy, which I consider a significant step forward for our company and a strong validation of our work to date,” Tewodros Ashenafi, Chairman and CEO of SouthWest Energy said on the press release on last Thursday.

According to the press release, the CPR concluded that the potential of the Gambella and Jijiga basins as having an estimated 1.56 billion barrels prospective oil resources.

“This estimate is based on 16 potential traps within SWE’s approximately 29,000km2 in blocks 9A, 9 and 13 (out of the wider Basin’s total acreage of 367,000km2 ) and 8 traps within the 17,000km2 in the Gambella Basin. Senergy has determined SWE’s blocks to be the frontier, but potentially high-reward oil exploration acreage,” the statement indicated.

Sowthwest Energy is planing to drill three initial exploration wells in the Jijiga basin during the course of 2013 and 2014.

Source: Capital