{"id":808,"date":"2014-03-26T17:59:26","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T17:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oilnewskenya.com\/?p=808"},"modified":"2015-09-02T21:11:41","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T21:11:41","slug":"somalia-commissions-onshore-oil-surveys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/somalia-commissions-onshore-oil-surveys\/","title":{"rendered":"Somalia commissions onshore oil surveys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story by Bloomberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Somalia is conducting offshore surveys in hopes of attracting explorers including Royal Dutch Shell Plc two decades after the outbreak of a bloody civil war drove foreign investors away.<\/p>\n

The East African country plans to hold a licensing tender next year after\u00a0Soma Oil and Gas, funded by Russian billionaire Alexander Djaparidze, completes the seismic study, according to Abdullahi Haider, a federal government adviser. Somalia, with no proven reserves, has been in talks with Shell about resuming work suspended at the start of the war in 1991, said Abdirizak Omar Mohamed, an adviser to President\u00a0Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we settle all the issues between the federal-central government and regional authorities, the petroleum law, the establishment of the regulatory framework, then optimistically there will be full-scale exploration,\u201d Haider said in an interview from Mogadishu. \u201cThis time next year we could have the possibility of seeing major oil companies coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n

International oil companies are weighing a return to the Horn of Africa nation as the political situation stabilizes and pirate attacks subside. Somalia wants to catch up with Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique to the south, where recent discoveries promise East Africa\u2019s first oil exports as soon as 2016.<\/p>\n

Armed Insurgents<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe have expressed interest in appraising opportunities for future projects in Somalia,\u201d said Julia Dudley, a London-based spokeswoman at Shell. The Anglo-Dutch company holds rights to blocks M3 to M7 where it still has force majeure in place, exempting it from exploration obligations.<\/p>\n

Foreign investors continue to face obstacles, from problems transferring funds to the country to security threats from al-Shabaab militants, who have waged an insurgency since 2007 to try to topple the Western-backed government and impose Shariah, or Islamic law.<\/p>\n

Djaparidze-led investment company Winter Sky, which holds 30 percent of Soma Oil, provided the explorer with\u00a0$50 million<\/a>\u00a0to start the survey in an area the size of the North Sea, Soma Oil Chief Executive Officer Robert Sheppard said. Soma Oil will have the right to make an application for as many as 12 blocks covering 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles) in \u201cconsideration for doing\u201d the seismic study, he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Risk Exposure\u2019<\/h2>\n

The company \u201cwill be given some blocks, but it\u2019s not going to be their own preferences,\u201d said Mohamed, the government adviser. \u201cWe will have an open and transparent bidding process,\u201d said Mohamed, a former national resources minister who signed the survey contract with Soma Oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomalia seems promising,\u201d Djaparidze\u2019s son Georgy, a non-executive director at London-based Soma Oil and an investor in the company, wrote in an e-mail. It\u2019s his first project in East Africa, and he chose it because he was seeking an opportunity to increase risk exposure, he said by e-mail.<\/p>\n

Djaparidze senior is a founder of Eurasia Drilling Co., Russia\u2019s largest oilfield services provider, and has extensive experience in petroleum exploration.<\/p>\n

Soma Oil is betting on oil discoveries in Madagascar, where more than a dozen companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total SA are operating. The island split from East Africa about 165 million years ago, and it\u2019s gearing up \u201cto find something very big\u201d in south Somalia\u2019s deep waters, where the only well ever drilled was by Exxon in 1982, Sheppard said in an interview in London.<\/p>\n

Somalia \u201cwill be able to negotiate and work with them, the big companies, on a more equal basis\u201d equipped with seismic data, he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll open the door for the big guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story by Bloomberg Somalia is conducting offshore surveys in hopes of attracting explorers including Royal Dutch Shell Plc two decades after the outbreak of a bloody civil war drove foreign … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[112,671,818,859,2195,2196,2345,2352],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oil-politics","category-top-news","tag-al-shabaab","tag-east-africa","tag-eurasia-drilling-co","tag-exxon-mobil-corp","tag-royal-dutch-shell","tag-royal-dutch-shell-plc","tag-soma-oil-and-gas","tag-somalia","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/engineers-and-visitors-ex-007.jpg?fit=460%2C276&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JWkQ-d2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2778,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/somalia-2d-offshore-seismic-yet-released-4-months-since-expected\/","url_meta":{"origin":808,"position":0},"title":"Somalia 2D offshore seismic results yet to be released 4 months on","author":"","date":"April 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Results from a 2D seismic acquisition programme that commenced on 4th February 2014 by Soma Oil and Gas Exploration Limited through the SeaBird Exploration vessel are yet to be released four months after the data processing completion was expected. According to Soma Oil and Gas the 2D seismic data acquisition\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/offshore-somalia.png?fit=557%2C526&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/offshore-somalia.png?fit=557%2C526&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/offshore-somalia.png?fit=557%2C526&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7771,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/with-first-oil-target-set-for-2027-somalia-is-keen-to-showcase-its-untapped-potential-to-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":808,"position":1},"title":"With first oil target set for 2027, Somalia is keen to showcase its untapped potential to the world","author":"","date":"September 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Following the signing of a new Petroleum Law and Revenue Sharing Agreement in May of this year, as well as the unveiling of its first ever offshore licensing round (15 blocks covering 75,000 sq. km), the Horn of Africa nation is keen to show the world that it is open\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Spectrum Geo\"","block_context":{"text":"Spectrum Geo","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/tag\/spectrum-geo\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Somalia-PR-SM-1.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Somalia-PR-SM-1.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Somalia-PR-SM-1.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Somalia-PR-SM-1.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Somalia-PR-SM-1.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3205,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/serious-fraud-office-opens-corruption-investigations-soma-oil-gas-somalia\/","url_meta":{"origin":808,"position":2},"title":"Serious Fraud Office Opens Corruption investigations on Soma Oil and Gas in Somalia","author":"","date":"August 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"United Kindgom\u2019s Serious Fraud Office has confirmed that it has opened a criminal investigation into SOMA Oil & Gas Holdings Ltd, SOMA Oil & Gas Exploration Limited, SOMA Management Limited and others in relation to allegations of corruption in Somalia. 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While the full scale of natural resources in Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia remains unclear, early estimates indicate that there is significant potential \u2013 and this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Oil Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/oil-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4650,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/spectrum-asa-completes-the-acquisition-of-2d-seismic-data-offshore-somalia\/","url_meta":{"origin":808,"position":4},"title":"Spectrum ASA completes the acquisition of 2D seismic data offshore Somalia","author":"","date":"May 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Spectrum ASA has successfully completed the acquisition of 2D seismic data offshore south Somalia that commenced \u00a05 th September, 2015 when Spectrum ASA and the Federal Government of Somalia entered into a Multi-client master cooperation agreement with the federal government. According to Spectrum ASA the total number of sail line\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Somalia-Spectrum-Seismic-Coverage.jpg?fit=1060%2C752&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Somalia-Spectrum-Seismic-Coverage.jpg?fit=1060%2C752&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Somalia-Spectrum-Seismic-Coverage.jpg?fit=1060%2C752&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Somalia-Spectrum-Seismic-Coverage.jpg?fit=1060%2C752&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Somalia-Spectrum-Seismic-Coverage.jpg?fit=1060%2C752&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/soma-oil-and-gas-set-to-become-a-major-player-offshore-somalia\/","url_meta":{"origin":808,"position":5},"title":"Soma Oil and Gas set to become a major player offshore Somalia","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Soma oil and gas that in June concluded a 122,000 sq km 2D seismic acquisition is set to benefit from blocks with an area of up to 60,000 sq km under a seismic option agreement with Ministry of Petroleum & Mineral Resources, Federal Government of Somalia. 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