Somalia oil and gas exploration

Overview:

• Somalia oil and gas exploration.
• Soma Oil & Gas is negotiating with Government of Somalia over the acquisition of production sharing agreements related to deepwater oil and gas blocks.
• The Somalian government first invited companies to explore for oil off its coast in 2014, with Soma completing a seismic survey around the same time.
• The project was delayed by a corruption investigation into Soma's activities by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The company denied any wrongdoing and was cleared in December 2016.
• The project has also been complicated by both Somalia's territorial dispute with Kenya over sea borders and the country's problems with piracy, though the later has as yet had no direct effect on Soma's activities.

Sam Duke - Editor