Dove applied for Block 73 in the 2004 Yemen Onshore licensing round. In July, 2005, the Yemen Block 73 PSA was ratified by the government for a first phase of exploration and a duration of 3 years. Dove is the operator and sole licensee. The Yemen Oil Company (TYC) has a carried 7.5% interest in the block. Work obligations included the re-processing of the existing seismic data, acquisition of 300 km of 2D data and drilling the first exploration well. All these obligations have been met. The license was extended by six months to late 2008 to allow for the completion of the legacy seismic re-processing. The license entered Phase 2 in January ’09.

Setting
Situated on the margins of the prolific Masila-Seiyun basin. Block 73 is close to the existing oil production and export infrastructure of the Masila oil province.

Prospectivity
To the west the block contains shallow basement overlain by the Qishn Formation and 1 – 1.5Km of sediments. The north eastern part is deeper being located on the southern edge of the Seyun-Masila Basin, one of three rift basins in Yemen. The basin is highly prospective being sourced by shales within the Madbi and Naifa formations. Within the basin, reservoirs are present in the Qishn, Saar, Madbi formations and in Basement.

Work Programme
The license is now in the second phase of exploration. The work obligations are a further 300km of 2D seismic and a second exploration well to drill 200m into the basement. The data acquired and studied during Phase 1 has been sufficient to generate a prospect inventory. In order to further de-risk these prospects, the acquisition of 3D seismic data was proposed to the ministry. Agreement has now been reached on the conversion of 2D to 3D data under the PSA and the work is planned for later in 2010.