Turkish Ship to Start Oil Search Off Somalia This Month
Turkey's Energy Ministry announced on Thursday that a Turkish seismic research ship plans to arrive at the end October off the coasts of Somalia and begin searching for natural gas and oil after the two countries agreed on cooperation in energy. The agreement of March envisaged oil production and exploration, and Turkish Petroleum was granted licenses to operate in three areas within the Somali Seas. The ship Oruc Reis is exploring areas that cover? The ship Oruc Reis will explore areas covering?
New Offshore Acreage Licensing to Drop 60% in 2020, Rystad says
Newly licensed offshore oil and gas exploration acreage is likely to fall by about 60% and onshore acreage by 30% compared with 2019 levels, Rystad Energy has said, as the Norwegian energy market analytics company expects more than half of the world’s planned licensing rounds to be canceled this year due to the combined effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the low oil prices."This year was slated to be another remarkable year for exploration with about 45 countries launching at least 52 lease rounds…
Africa: Strong Scope for Offshore Licensing in 2020
Throughout 2019 Africa has led licensing round activity; looking forward to 2020 this is set to continue, however results of the recent rounds have had limited success in a global context.Eight licensing rounds are open or have closed in Africa during the quarter and going forward 13 countries may offer acreage in 2020, said a report by GlobalData.Toya Latham Upstream Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData said: “The year has held mixed fortunes for those hosting licensing rounds in Africa.
Shell, Exxon Eye Somalia's Offshore
Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil are looking to return to Somalia ahead of an oil block bid round later this year, the East African country's oil ministry said.Shell and Exxon Mobil had a joint venture on five offshore blocks in Somalia prior to the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in the early 1990s.The country has been mired in insecurity since Barre left and is battling Islamist group al Shabaab that frequently…
Armed Piracy in West African Waters Rise
Bulk of attacks occurred off Nigeria. Armed attacks on ships in West African waters nearly doubled in 2016, with pirates increasingly focused on kidnapping their crew for ransom off Nigeria's coast, a report said on Tuesday. A recent spate of attacks off Somalia, meanwhile, may also indicate a resurgence of piracy in East Africa as a result of less vigilance, the Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) project said. OBP, a project…
Somali President Appoints Oil Firm Executive as PM
Somalia's newly elected president on Thursday appointed the country director of British firm Soma Oil and Gas as the new prime minister, raising questions about possible conflicts of interest in the Horn of Africa country. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as "Farmajo", named Hassan Ali Khaire as prime minister, state radio website Radio Muqdisho.net said. "The president has requested Somali citizens to work with the prime minister," the statement on Radio Muqdisho.net said.
Djibouti Breaks Ground on Massive FTZ
The president of Djibouti on Monday formally launched the construction of a project touted as Africa's largest free trade zone, to be built in the tiny Horn of African nation with Chinese backing. The agreement to build the 48 sq km (19 sq mile) free trade zone was signed in March 2016 as part of China's bid to expand trade routes, a series of infrastructure initiatives stretching across 60 countries that the Chinese have dubbed "One Belt, One Road".
UK Prosecutor Drops Somali Corruption Inquiry into Soma Oil
UK prosecutors have closed a 17-month investigation into alleged bribery and corruption at Soma Oil & Gas, a private UK exploration company seeking oil in Somalia, despite finding "reasonable grounds" to suspect wrongdoing. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which opened the inquiry last July after a tip-off from the United Nations' Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG), said there was not enough evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
Indonesia to resume coal shipments to Philippines amid piracy concerns
Indonesia will resume some shipments of coal to the Philippines, a government official said on Sunday, after a months-long halt due to concerns about piracy in seas between the two archipelagos. Indonesia earlier this year slapped a moratorium on coal shipments to its neighbour after a string of hijackings by militants based in the southern Philippines, in which several Indonesian sailors were taken hostage. Only…
Tanzania Wants to Speed Up Uganda Pipeline Plan
France's Total has set aside $4 billion to build a pipeline from Ugandan oilfields to the Tanzanian coast and Tanzania wants the three-year construction timetable shortened, Tanzania's presidency said in a statement on Monday. The comments raise the stakes in a competition to secure the pipeline with neighbouring Kenya, which wants Ugandan oil to be exported across its territory and wants the pipeline to link up with Kenyan oilfields. Neither Ugandan nor Kenyan oilfields have started commercial production.
Uganda Could Pick Tanzania Over Kenya for Oil Pipeline
Uganda's government is still considering a pipeline through Tanzania to export oil if it proved cheaper than alternatives, an official said on Wednesday, even though the Ugandan president indicated last month that a route through Kenya had been picked. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta made a joint call in August to implement a pipeline project via north Kenya "without further delay", a decision seen as helping investors to decide on oilfield development in both states.
Total Mulls Tanzania Pipeline Route for Ugandan Oil
France's Total, an investor in Ugandan oilfields, said it is considering a pipeline through Tanzania as a possible way to export Ugandan oil, challenging Uganda's proposal of a Kenyan route which has raised some security concerns. Kenya and Uganda last month announced a decision to link Uganda to Kenyan oil finds and then to Kenya's north Lamu coast, a move that had been seen as helping oil firms make their investment decisions.
UK's SFO Launches Investigation into Soma Oil & Gas
Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a criminal investigation into British exploration firm Soma Oil and Gas, which has been searching for oil in conflict-ridden Somalia. "The SFO confirmed today that it has opened a criminal investigation into SOMA Oil & Gas ... in relation to allegations of corruption in Somalia," the SFO said in a statement late on Friday in which it also appealed for whistleblowers. Soma was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Drazen Jorgic)
Kenya, Uganda Deciding Pipeline Route by Mid-July
Kenya and Uganda could decide by mid-July on the route for a crude pipeline linking their newly found oil fields to the Kenyan coast, a vital step for oil firms to make a final investment decision, a senior Kenyan ministry official said. Two possible routes have been proposed, one running through north Kenya to the coast in the Lamu region and a second following the route of an existing products pipeline further south that would run to the port of Mombasa.
Spike Seen in African Offshore Disputes, Oil Companies Watching
African maritime boundary disputes are expected to rise dramatically, potentially curbing exploration and creating uncertainty in ownership over tens of billions of barrels of oil, industry experts say. A lack of maritime boundary agreements, which has not kept pace as more oil companies moved offshore into deeper waters, has seen many African nations struggling to enforce their sovereign rights under the 1982 Law of Sea treaty.
Maritime Piracy: Attacks Down, SE Asia Remains Problematic
While the issue of maritime piracy has largely fallen from the public eye, with the rapid evolution of the 24/7/365 news cycle and a never-ending list of new and globally interesting headlines, such as Ebola, there remains concerns of piracy’s effects on the broader maritime market, particularly in SE Asia. According to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest piracy report…
Somalia: Reviewing Oil Deals U.N. Says Lack Transparency
U.N. Somalia said it was reviewing several oil and gas deals that U.N. investigators say lack transparency and risk hindering development of the country's energy industry. Energy firms are cautiously eyeing Somalia's long coastline, an untapped frontier on the east African seaboard that has become an exploration hot spot after big gas finds in Mozambique and Tanzania. Somalia's southern neighbour Kenya has found oil.
Somalia Aims to Get Oil Flowing by 2020
Somalia aims to produce oil within six years, Petroleum Minister Daud Mohamed Omar said on Monday, as he announced plans to reassert control over a sector which has foundered since the outbreak of civil war in 1991. Hopes that the impoverished East African nation could emulate neighbouring Kenya by discovering and bringing to market offshore resources have been kept on ice by long-running territorial disputes between regional authorities.
New Phase of Antipiracy Project in Somalia
The Joint Shipping Initiative - made up of Shell, BP, Maersk, Stena and Japanese shipping companies NYK, MOL and "K" Line - has announced it has given$1.5 million of additional funds to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) project to improve the lives of Somalis and security for seafarers. The UNDP's "Alternative Livelihoods to Piracy in Puntland and Central Regions ofSomalia" project aims to reduce piracy off the coast of east Africa through local economic development…
Kenya Aims to Add 1,200 MW to Creaking Power Grid
Kenya plans to add 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid from natural gas deposits, the energy minister said on Tuesday, taking steps to address chronic power shortages that critics say have discouraged investments. Davis Chirchir said the government was also considering a second attempt to seek bids for the construction of a 700 MW liquefied natural gas power plant near the port city of Mombasa.
