Somalia | Oil, Gas & other Exploration News

[Constantine MMX]

Africa Oil Corp: Horn Petroleum Provides Operational Update

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 15, 2012) - Africa Oil Corp. (TSX VENTURE:AOI)(OMX:AOI) ("Africa Oil" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following update on exploration operations in Puntland (Somalia) operated by Horn Petroleum Corp. ("Horn"). Africa Oil holds an approximate 45% equity interest in Horn which in turn holds a 60% working interest in the Dharoor and Nugaal Valley Production Sharing Agreements ("PSAs"). Horn's joint venture partners in these blocks are Range Resources (20%) and Red Emperor (20%).

Horn has demobilized the drilling rig and associated equipment and has completed restoration of both drilling locations. Efforts are now focused on making preparations for a seismic acquisition campaign in the Dharoor PSA which will include a regional seismic reconnaissance grid in the previously unexplored eastern portion of the basin as well as prospect specific seismic to delineate a drilling candidate in the western portion of the basin where an active petroleum system was confirmed by the recent drilling at the Shabeel-1 and Shabeel North-1 locations. This seismic program is expected to commence in the first half of 2013. The Company continues to pursue efforts to drill an exploration well in the Nugaal PSA and is working with the Puntland government authorities to move this project forward.

Horn is in active discussions with potential joint venture partners and also is reviewing new venture opportunities in the region.

Horn President and CEO, David Grellman, commented, "We remain very encouraged by the exploration potential of these Jurassic rift basins in Puntland. We have committed to the next exploration phase in both PSAs and plan to aggressively explore both areas to confirm this potential. We are also optimistic that the political progress in Somalia will continue and allow oil and gas exploration in the region to expand." -- Source

[Xusein]

Somaliland to drill oil by 2014

October 30 2012 at 03:47pm
By Reuters

The break-away territory of Somaliland sees drilling for oil as possible by 2014 as three companies start exploration activities, the country's mining and energy minister said on Tuesday.

Hussein Abdi Dualeh told Reuters the three companies are Ophir Energy Plc, Australia-based Jacka Resources and Genel Energy, which is headed by former BP chief executive Tony Hayward.

Somaliand is not recognized internationally and declared independence from Somalia in 1991.

“Last year we were seen as a frontier because nothing was happening. But now the biggest exploration activities in 21 years are about to start,” Dualeh told Reuters on the sidelines of an African oil conference organised by Global Pacific & Partners.

“We will be hosting Tony and his team on Nov. 6. Ophir will have boots on the ground by December and Genel in February or March,” he said.

He added that he expected drilling to commence by 2014.

http://www.iol.co.za/business/intern...4#.UKgwjIfAe-0

[ModernNomad01]

Deleted

[Constantine MMX]

Somalia’s Oil and Gas Potential

A frontier country that will be open for oil and gas exploration in 2013!

By Eng. Abdulkadir Abiikar Hussein - Thursday, December 27, 2012

Somalia: High hopes to generate revenues from hydrocarbons:

At the moment, Somalia intends to move forward and give hope to its citizens. In order to do that, it must earn revenue to provide the basics: build sustainable peace, improve security for everyone in Somalia and provide public services: education, health, sanitation, access to clean water and build infrastructure. Resources that can generate revenue include the development of livestock, fishery, agricultural products, minerals, oil and gas in addition to collecting taxes from property, income, payroll or workforce, corporate, capital gains, wealth, goods and services (value added tax [VAT]) and many other types of taxes.

Somalia has high hopes in gaining revenue from oil and gas, currently hidden in the underground of Somalia (onshore) and below the Indian Ocean-floor (the offshore). More than two decades ago (in the eighties), there was an “oil and gas exploration rush” to Somalia, driven by the country’s huge oil and gas potential. The rush was led by Conoco-Phillips, Shell (Pectin), Amoco, Eni, Total and Texaco, who left the country in “force majeure” waiting to come back at the right time, security wise.

In a recent meeting, the Minister of Resources said, “Given that the security condition of the country is improving at a rapid speed and the presence of legitimate transparent government, companies of the past and the new ones are all welcome. Somalia will be open for business sometime in 2013 and we honour the agreements of the companies who filed “force majeure” and left the country due to the civil war. We are now working to review the Petroleum Law and make it more competitive and attractive to oil companies and investors”.

Somalia is aware of the recent discoveries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique and it is determined to join the race for oil and gas production. In addition to the “giant” oil companies, currently there are small companies who are aggressive risk-takers who want to start and get hold of their share before the giants come to play. The “giant oil companies” seem to be reluctant and shuffling their feet at the moment. In getting ready for business, Somalia needs to carry out institution building: establish the Somali Petroleum Authority (SPA) in accordance to Article 8 of the Petroleum Law of Somalia.

SPA is the competent authority that regulates petroleum operations in Somalia by ensuring that all activities from exploration, production and marketing adhere to the requirements of the Petroleum Law. Somali Petroleum Corporation (SPC) exists already but it may need re-structuring so that it meets the high expectations of the current government. -- Read more

[Constantine MMX]

New Oil Team

February 19, 2013

Somalian Minister of Natural Resources Abdirizak Omar Mohamed has just set up his new oil team. On February 17, he officially appointed two foreign advisers who had already been working for his predecessor.

They are Frenchman Patrick Mollière, head of Aldric Global of Singapore, and Canadian J. Jay Park of Norton Rose Canada. Mollière is now special adviser to the Somalian government on oil matters and Park legal adviser on oil matters. Mollière has been given four briefs: to facilitate negotiations with holders of prior rights with a view to signing new production sharing agreements in keeping with the petroleum law; to help the Commission of Petroleum & Mineral Resources (CPMR) and Somalia Petroleum Company (SPC), which is currently in the process of being set up, to find partners; to prepare a round of bidding as a prelude to the award of new production sharing agreements; to help the ministry of natural resources with any other task required.

Jay, on the other hand, must advise the government, the national resources ministry, the CPMR and the SPC, on all the legal aspects of petroleum questions. The principal Western embassies in Nairobi were informed immediately of these appointments, which were also notified by email to oil companies interested in Somalia. As they did for the preceding government, the two Westerners will work with three Somalis: Abdullahi Haider, special adviser at the natural resources ministry, Hussein Ahmed, managing director of SPC, and Mohamud Olow, ambassador In Indonesia. -- Source

[hyperactive]

[k6734]

Originally Posted by Constantine MMX

New Oil Team

At-last professionalism.

What does this mean for the American companies who were awards huge blocks in the eighties and declared force majeure when Somalia's government collapsed in the nineties?

[Kaskade]

Oil is the last thing Somalia needs right now. It is very expensive to explore and time consuming to publish a geological data. Oil is a natural asset, which means it's public asset, belongs to every Somali. That definition may not play well for those who find the oil first, and more importantly where it's found.

[NightVision]

Gas-Rich Qatar and Shell Aggressively Pursue Somalia’s Oil
March 9, 2013

Since the start of the Arab Spring, the gas-rich Persian Gulf state of Qatar has been extending its reach across the Greater Middle East. The tiny state, whose citizenry only numbers around 250,000 individuals, began its foray into regional politics with the overthrow of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, Qatar has financed a rebellion in Syria and sweet-talked the Hamas administration of Gaza into its corner with a $400 million pledge.

Earlier this week, a lauded trip to the Qatari capital of Doha by Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud prompted intrigue and worry across Somalia. The agenda of the meetings was kept quiet enough to require even further inquiry by Somalis, leaving a trail of money, oil, and more mystery.

Qatar was a primary financial supporter of former Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and Qatar is also suspected to have bought the September 2012 election for Mohamud, who comes from the same clan as his predecessor and purports to hold an Islamist orientation similar to Sharif Ahmed. Many Somalis are wondering what Qatar is gets in return from these backdoor deals, because it can’t simply be about them favoring a particular clan of Somali Islamists over other Somali Islamists. The Qatari involvement in Mogadishu goes far beyond local clan politics. Qatar, and its allies, are trying to create profitable outcomes.

Ex-president Sharif Ahmed set up an oil team during his term, and the current administration has kept it in place. It includes Abdullahi Haider serving as senior adviser to the regime. In October last year, Haider stated to Reuters that all energy contracts setup by regional administrations “are null and void,” even though the Somali Constitution grants regions full rights to negotiate resource contracts as they wish. Sharif Ahmed also appointed a British-based legal advisory team called Norton Rose LLP to handle natural resources acquisitions. Norton Rose is also the advisory team of Qatar Shipping and Qatar Navigation companies, which are owned in part by the Qatari royal family, as well as the state-owned Qatar Investment Authority, which holds over $60 billion in assets.

Qatar is the bridge that connects Norton Rose’s role in the governments of Mohamud and Sharif, and that Norton Rose played a key role in preparing Somalia’s petroleum policy and establishing a state oil company for the fledgling regime. But why? The Qatar Investment Authority is a stakeholder in Royal Dutch Shell, and the Qataris went on a major spending spree on 2012 (just before the historic Somali elections) and bought millions of more shares, making them the biggest shareholders in the company.

To make things easier for himself, Mohamud appointed his half-brother’s nephew as the natural resources minister, and since then Shell has gotten more aggressive, even going as far as to enforce a quiet monopoly on the nation’s oil and gas, virtually shutting new exploration firms out of the country. This was evidenced when a British exploration company LGE Monsoon was locked out of a deal in the small federal state of Galmudug. Only a month later, Shell sent a warning to the US-based exploration company American Liberty Petroleum Corporation about its attempts to acquire the same acreage in Galmudug. The day after the Shell threats in Galmudug, neighboring Puntland State made a press release on the fragility of the Somali Constitution and the threats it faces from the regime of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Some of Shell’s energy licenses in Somalia are located in areas disputed by the federal subject of Puntland and the separatist state of Somaliland. This leads us to inquire if Conoco-Phillips, which is a major player in Qatari exploration, is pushing Qatar to involve itself in the political developments in Somalia. Earlier this week, a Somaliland-based Somali-language website stated that Qatar would be mediating talks between Somalia and its separatist enclave of Somaliland.

Qatar’s recently-groomed allies in Turkey have been engaged in an open [and distastefully boastful] intervention in Somalia for the past year, which has allowed Qatar to work diligently behind the scenes. This also explains why the Qataris haven’t been complaining at all about Turkey’s growing influence in Somalia, as opposed to the dismayed Saudis who have become so concerned about losing their share in Somalia’s potential riches that they’ve even studied and narrowed down the places they were eager to exploit and which they may now sit out on.

It’s been rumored that during President Mohamud’s recent 3-day trip to Doha, he was given $135 million to push the Qatari-hatched agenda, which seems reasonable considering that Qatar pledged $400 million to Gaza, a region beseiged by Israel and thus unable to exploit its own resources with which it can repay the Qataris and their corporate allies.

http://somalisentinel.com/2013/03/ga...-somalias-oil/

[oxh]

^Kan cuqdada dishayna xaguu nagasoogalay??? Qolal jiniyaha kugujiro lagaaga bixiyo maakan umaleeysay. Xayawaan baad tahay meesha hanaga wasaqeeyn waryaa.

[oxh]

meesha cayayaanki waakubatay waxlajoogo malaha.

[ModernNomad01]

Originally Posted by oxh

meesha cayayaanki waakubatay waxlajoogo malaha.

Chilllllll lol

[Xusein]

Sounds like fantasy.

[ModernNomad01]

Tony Hawyard’s Genel May Find Oil in Somaliland, Minister Says

Bloomberg Thursday, March 14, 2013

Somaliland is optimistic that a search for oil by Genel Energy Plc (GENL), run by former BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward, will find commercial quantities of crude, Mines and Energy Minister Hussein Abdi Dualeh said.

The company has completed about 95 percent of an airborne geophysical study and plans to conduct a two-dimensional survey of a 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) area in the semi-autonomous northern Somali region, Dualeh said in an interview yesterday in Ankara, the Turkish capital.

Patrick D’Ancona, a spokesman for London-based Genel, declined to comment beyond its annual results statement issued on Feb. 28. The “initial map shows big, promising basins,” Dualeh said, adding that Genel hasn’t interpreted all of the data yet. “That does not mean there is oil there. There is still a lot of work to do: 2-D seismic, exploratory drilling, a lot of processes. It looks promising.” The hunt to develop energy resources in East Africa has gained pace since Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

(APC) made the decade’s biggest natural gas discovery off the coast of Mozambique. Finds in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia have also raised the region’s energy profile. Demand in China and India helped spark a bidding war last year between Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production Pcl (PTTEP) for Anadarko’s partner Cove Energy Plc. Anadarko’s partner Cove Energy Plc.

Licensed Blocks Somaliland has licensed one-third of its oil fields where the Anglo-Turkish company Genel operates in five blocks, with plans to drill a first well by mid-2014, said Dualeh. Ophir Energy Plc (OPHR) of the U.K. is also in negotiations for a 2-D seismic contract and may start drilling in 2015, he said.

“It is a no brainer, there is oil” said Dualeh. “It is a matter of finding commercial qualities.”

Somalia, particularly its northern regions of Somaliland and Puntland are a “southward extension of the lucrative geologic framework of the Arabian Gulf” that includes Saudi Arabia, according to Osman Salad Hersi, an associate geology professor at the University of Regina in Canada. Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest oil producer. Regina in Canada. Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest oil producer.

“The country, Somalia, including Somaliland, can potentially be the Saudi Arabia of East Africa,” Hersi said in an e-mailed response to questions. “But the instability of the country within the past 30 years or so hindered any meaningful hydrocarbon exploration.”

http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2013/Ma...ster_says.aspx

[juzme123]

We really shouldn't be exploring for oil because we do not even have any structures in place to effectively manage or regulate any oil extraction and any revenues derived therefrom.

A solution might be to freeze any existing or new explorations if oil is found and take some time to draft and create oil laws and regulations, define and review the sharing agreements, create and properly staff regulatory and supervisory bodies, environmental agencies and other such basic infrastructures... but that's not going to happen, we can only hope that it does.

If oil is found now, it would be very dire for the Somali people because corruption would sky-rocket and the revenues would be squandered and stashed away by the political elite, markiiba dagaal iyo muran ayaa la bilaabayaa as there are no revenue sharing agreements, the environmental consequences would not be cared for and would be severe considering that 50% of the population is nomadic and relies on it. We do not even have any governance structures in place for far less complicated things, it would be a free-for-all.

[ModernNomad01]

Somalia targets Shell, Eni for oil, gas output-sharing contracts

FuelFix Monday,
April 22, 2013

Somalia plans to sign 30 oil and gas production-sharing contracts this year, starting with companies that operated in the country before its government was toppled more than two decades ago, an official said.

“All prior holders have been contacted and three are ready to continue,” including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Eni SpA (ENI), and ConocoPhillips (C), Hussein Ali Ahmed, managing director of the state-owned Somalia Petroleum Corp., said in an interview on April 18 in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. BP Plc (BP/) has indicated an interest in returning, while Chevron Corp. hasn’t formerly answered the Somali government’s call to come back, he said.

Somalia is one of the last frontiers for oil and gas in eastern Africa as it recovers from a two-decade civil war that shattered the economy and left the nation as one of the world’s least developed.

In the region, companies including Eni, BG Group Plc (BG/) and Statoil ASA (STL) have discovered more than 100 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in Mozambique and Tanzania, while London-based Tullow Oil Plc (TLW) has found oil in Uganda and Kenya. Somali lawmakers in September elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud as the country’s president, marking the 16th attempt to establish an effective central government since 1991, when the former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown.

The country’s security forces, backed by regional peacekeepers, are still battling al-Qaeda-backed Islamic militants who control parts of southern and central Somalia, after fleeing the capital, Mogadishu, in August 2011.

Exploration Blocks Somalia plans to increase the number of oil and gas exploration blocks to 300 of 5,000 square kilometers (1,931 square miles) each, after sub-dividing the existing 25 areas, according to Ahmed. Some blocks are currently as big as 200,000 square kilometers, Ahmed said. “We want to sub-divide because they are too big to award to single companies for exploration in good time,” Ahmed said.

Shell had five blocks before Barre’s government fell, he said. The area available to explore for oil and gas in Somalia is equivalent to about one third of the country’s surface, Ahmed said. The country expects to complete legislation under which oil and gas activities will be managed within in months.

“We had drafted a law in 2008, but the new government asked to review it, and we expect they will send in to parliament soon, and the whole process should be complete in a few months,” Ahmed said.

http://hiiraan.com/news4/2013/Apr/28...contracts.aspx

[Tom & Jerrii]

why Eni they bought a block from kenya in somalia southern waters

[ModernNomad01]

Somalia: Somaliland iyo Shirkadda DNO International oo kala sexeexday heshiis la xidhiidha baadhista Gaasta iyo Saliidda

Washington DC(RBC):- Shirkadda DNO International oo ah Shirkad ka diiwaangashan waddanka Norway, isla markaana Saliidda iyo Gaasta soo saarta, ayaa shaaca ka qaadday inay heshiis la saxeexatay Madaxweynaha Somaliland Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud (Siilaanyo) oo safar ku jooga magaalada Washingtown ee dalka Maraykanka.

Guddoomiyaha fulinta Mr Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, ayaa sheegay in Madaxweynaha Somaliland heshiiskan si rasmi ah ugu kala saxeexdeen magaalada Washingon DC ee dalka Maraykanka. Waxaanu Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, sheegay in heshiisku dhigayo inay sannadka 2014-ka sahamin ka bilaabaan Ceelka lagu magacaabo Block SL 18 oo ku dhaw Xeebta.

“Bolooggani waa 12,000 skuweer kiiloo-mitir (12,000 square kilometer block). Somaliland Joqoraafi ahaan waa meel ku habboon inay Shirkaddayada DNO International ka hawl-gasho oo ay 14-ka ka bilawdo sahaminta Saliidda iyo Gaasta.”

Sidaa ayuu yiri Mossavar-Rahmani. Mossavar-Rahmani waxa uu sheegay in xafladda heshiisku ka dhacday magaalada Washington, isagoo intaa ku daray in dhinaca Shirkadda DNO International uu isagu u saxeexay, dhinaca Somaliland-na uu u saxeexay Madaxweyne Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud (Siilaanyo), waxaanu xusay in heshiiskaasi dhigayo inay Somaliland iyo Shirkadda DNO sheer ku ahaadaan Gaasta iyo Saliidda Block 18 laga soo saari doono sahaminta ka dib.

Guddoomiyaha Fulinta Shirkadda DNO International Mossevar-Rhmani, waxa uu sheegay inay shirkaddoodu gacanta ku hayso Ceelal laga soo saaro Gaasta iyo Saliidda oo ku kala yaal toban goobood oo Xeebaha Ciraaq ee gobolka Kurdiyiinta ah.

Yemen, Cumaan, Imaaraadka Carabta, Tunisia iyo kan ay hadda Somaliland kala sexeexdeen. Goobta heshiiskan ay ku kala saxeexdeen

Madaxweynaha Somaliland Axmed Siilaanyo iyo Madaxa Shirkadda DNO International Mossavar-Rahmani, waxa goob-joog ka ahaa Wasiirrada Wasaaradaha Macdanta, Biyaha iyo Tamarta, Madaxtooyada, Arrimaha Dibedda, Qorshaynta iyo Marwada Madaxweynaha Somaliland oo xubno ka ah Weftiga Madaxweyne Axmed-Siilaanyo ee Maraykanka ku sugan.

Xukuumadda Somaliland ayaa heshiisyo ka ka horreeyey oo la xidhiidha sahaminta iyo baadhista Shidaalka iyo khayraadka kale ee Macdanta iyo Gaastu ka mid yihiin kula jirto shirkado kale oo kala duwan, kuwaasoo qaarkood sahamin iyo baadhitaan ka wadaan qaar ka tirsan gobollada Somaliland ay ka taliso.

RBC Radio
Xafiiska wararka ee Hargeysa.

http://www.raxanreeb.com/2013/04/som...-iyo-saliidda/