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N. AND N.W. AFRICA
Desert cliffs
Brief history of the country
Mali (the Republic of Mali) is land-locked, bordered by Mauritania and Senegal to the east, Algeria and Niger to the west, and Guinea and Burkina Faso to the south.
Mali was ruled by the Ghana Empire from the 8th century. After defeat by the Almoravids of Morocco in 1078 the Mali Empire progressively expanded, trading in gold, salt and slaves. At the end of the 14th century the Songhai Empire from northern Nigeria took over as the Mali empire disintegrated. In 1591 this, in turn, collapsed after a Moroccan invasion and the importance of Mali as a trading route also declined.
Three centuries later France took control and in 1905 established the area as French Sudan. In 1959 it changed its name to the Sudanese Republic, uniting with Senegal to become the Mali Federation.
The Federation gained independence in 1960 but Senegal soon withdrew and the Sudanese Republic declared itself as the Republic of Mali. After steady economic decline a coup in 1991 led to the establishment of Mali as a democratic state.
The country's economy improved, based on agriculture and natural resources, including gold and salt. However, a rebellion in 2012 forced troops, with the help of France, to retake the northern area from Islamic insurgents.
Oil and gas summary
Mali is land-locked. Most of its northern part extends into the Sahara desert. The southern part, where most of the population is located, is cut by the Niger and Senegal rivers.
The country overlies the West African Craton and contains a number of sedimentary basins. The most well-known is the Taoudeni Basin in the north of the country which also underlies Mauritania and Algeria. It contains a thick succession of late Precambrian and early Palaeozoic sediments. Other basins are barely explored and little is known about their stratigraphy.
Five unsuccessful wells were drilled up to 1985 almost all in the Taoudeni Basin and in 1982 one reportedly had gas shows. However, activity ceased in 1985 until 2004 when companies began to evaluate this basin again. No further wells have yet been drilled.
Although Mali has no identified indigenous oil or gas resources there remains potential for oil or gas fields. However, the remote location, harsh environment and political instability makes exploration expensive. Globalshift believes that commercial field developments, at least in the short and medium term, are very unlikely.
MALI
Map and National Flag
North and Northwest Africa
Capital
Population
Land area (sq kms)
Oil prod (000s b/d)
Gas prod (bcm/yr)
Oil cons (000s b/d)
Gas cons (bcm/yr)
Government
Mali’s system of government is semi-presidential with executive power vested in a president elected to a 5-year term limited to two terms. The president is chief of state and commander in chief of the armed forces.
An appointed prime minister is head of government and appoints the Council of Ministers. A unicameral 160-member National Assembly is elected for a 5-year term.
The Authority for the Promotion of Oil Exploration (AUREP) is responsible for oil and gas resources overseen by the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water.
Bamako
13.3 mm
1,240,192
None
None
5.5
None
Geology and History of Exploration
Mali is a remote, largely desert country with no identified oil or gas fields and limited exploration. It overlies the West African Craton and contains a number of sedimentary basins.
The Taoudeni Basin - named after Taoudeni village in northern Mali, covers large parts of the basement in the north of the country and is the largest sedimentary basin in Northwest Africa. It formed during the late Precambrian and early Palaeozoic, subsiding until Hercynian deformation and uplift occurred. It contains up to 6000m of sediments, thickest in the west. Potential source rocks and reservoirs occur in the Precambrian, Silurian and Late Devonian.
The Nara Trough - lies in the west. It is an intra-cratonic rift/sag basin containing Mesozoic sediments, although little is known about its stratigraphy.
The Tamesna Basin - is also relatively unknown. It lies in the east, extending into Niger and Algeria. Oil-prone source rocks were identified here in a well drilled in 1983.
The Gao Graben - in the south is a part of the Central African Rift system extending from Nigeria and Mali in the west to Sudan and Kenya in the east. Similar rifts are productive in Chad. A potential petroleum system could be lacustrine Cretaceous shales with syn and post-rift deltaic sandstones as reservoir rocks within fault block traps.
History - The search for oil in Mali began in the early 1960s with gravity and magnetic surveys followed by around 9,000 kms of 2D seismic acquisition up to the early 1980s.
Just 5 unsuccessful exploration wells were drilled up to 1985 to search for analogues to sedimentary basins identified in neighbouring countries, in particular the Taoudeni Basin which underlies Mauritania and Algeria. In 1982 a well reportedly had gas shows in this basin
The country’s remoteness and lack of success curtailed any further activity until 2004 when Baraka Petroleum acquired an interest triggered by the construction of an oil pipeline from Chad through Cameroon which led to hopes of a similar pipeline from Mali through Algeria.
Baraka conducted an evaluation of 5 blocks in the Taoudeni basin in 2006 and identified Cambrian black shales along the northern margins and carbonates as potential reservoirs with similarities to Algeria.
Other companies that have explored in the area include ENI (who farmed into Baraka blocks), Sonatrach, Total, Woodside, Centric Energy, Heritage Oil, Simba Energy, Statoil and CNPC. However none have drilled any wells and activity has now ceased.