Baraka Petroleum Limited has completed the aeromagnetic and radiometric airborne survey totalling 235,234 line km over its five blocks in the Taoudeni Basin, Mali, West Africa. These blocks cover a total area of 193,200 km2 and extend along the Mauritanian border.
The survey is one of the largest onshore airborne surveys undertaken by a private oil and gas company. Two planes were operative between the end of January and 10 November 2006 completing 1870 hours of flying over a total of 293 days inclusive of 53.5 days lost due toweather.
The data quality was assessed on a daily basis by UTS Geophysics team based in Timbuktu, Mali, and independently validated on a weekly basis for Baraka Petroleum in Perth by Southern Geoscience Consulting (SGC). Bill Peters at SGC said yesterday "it is clear that there issubstantial basement and intra-sediment information visible in the data throughout much of the area".
Three independent international audits of UTS Geophysics' planes and operations were conducted by Hart Aviation for Baraka Petroleum to ensure a safe and secure acquisition. Processing of the data has been run in progressive slots and should be completed within 10days to allow initial basin interpretation.
An aero-gravimetry survey is planned to start before the end of November and is expected to take approximately 3 months to complete.
