As SinoChem Corporation revealed on the 24th of April, its subsidiary SinoChem Prospecting Company recently completed the transaction on Yemen Project with Soco Yemen Pty. Ltd. According to the agreement, the Prospecting Company has acquired 100% of the share rights from Soco Yemen Company at a price of US$456 million. 

Soco Yemen Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Soco International PLC. It is registered in Australia and owns 58.75% of the shares in Comeco Petroleum, INC registered in the USA. Comeco Petroleum LNC owns 28.57% of the rights in Block 10 in the East Shabwa Development Area. As a result, Soco indirectly owns 16.79% of the rights in Block 10. 

Yemen Block 10 is located in Hadramaut, 130 kilometers to the northwest of an important port city Makulla. It has an area of 931 square kilometers and consists of 3 working oil fields like Kharir, Atuf and Wati/Jathma as well as some area of prospecting potential. By the 31st of December 2007, Soco Yemen is calculated to have approximately 39 million barrels of oil remaining to be recovered. In the first quarter of this year, the whole oil field produced an average daily amount of 40,000 barrels. Within the rights of Soco Yemen, its daily production was 6,714 barrels, making it an upper stage of production. 

The successful acquisition of Yemen Block 10 symbolizes SinoChem Prospecting Company¡¯

s breakthrough in the Middle East prospecting projects. It has huge significance in the company¡¯s expansion in overseas prospecting and its strategy of improving its industrial layout.