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By bringing focused 3D seismic technology to East Africa on a drilling prospect level basis we can dramatically lower drilling risk cost. By “making the possible, probable” we are able to maintain considerable interest in concession while bringing in partners willing to pay for the cost of drilling on our properly defined targets while carrying us through drilling and testing.

There is an urgent need for indigenous hydrocarbons in East Africa. Governments are activly encouraging exploration activity, which would dramatically reduce their dependency on imported hydrocarbons and improve their FOREX positions. Governments want exploration companies who do not just sit on their acreage positions and actively explore for oil and gas.


Making the possible, probable

Black Marlin’s management team long ago recognized the oil and gas potential of the East African margin. Our recent proprietary geochemical work confirms the presence of a large scale Lower Mesozoic source rock contributing to oil and gas shows, seeps and tar balls from the Durban Basin to Seychelles. Lack of new geoscientific data and severe doubts about the veracity and location of the 30 year old data that is available, and overbalanced drilling, have lead to many opportunities being missed in the past. In most of the world no exploration drilling is done without 3D seismic surveys. In East Africa only a few such marine 3D surveys have been performed.

Our business model consists of identifying overlooked or misinterpreted ground floor opportunities, reinterpreting and/or relocating the old results and then approaching the governments with innovative, quickly implemented work programs. These, bring modern, integrated G&G and related services to bear on the asset to turn P3 10% chance “possible” reserves into “ 50% chance “probable” reserves with the lowest possible risk cost to BMEL and partners. Having found drillable prospects, we farm out the higher risk, less attractive opportunities, while maintaining a carried or royalty interest, but keep the lower risk, better prospects, closer to markets for our partners and ourselves.

Most frontier explorers bring in equity capital and spend it until they find oil or gas. Black Marlin’s model is to use its UPSL services arm to provide G&G services, dedicated to East Africa and crewed partly by local staff, to provide a state of the art solution not only to EAX, but to fee paying clients. Black Marlin is an exploration company that makes money while exploring new acreage for oil and gas.

East Africa currently offers acreage positions with no signature bonuses, liberal relinquishment requirements and fiscal regimes in which the explorer can keep up to 50% of the hydrocarbons found. Black Marlin and wholly owned subsidiaries East African Exploration and Upstream Petroleum Services Limited, is in the right place, at the right time, with the right tools making the possible probable, in East Africa.