Africa Oil Week to Host “Somalia Licensing Round: Derisking Above Ground Factors” Session
Africa Oil Week has announced that it will host a “Somalia Licensing Round: Derisking Above Ground Factors” session at its online conference, AOW Virtual. The session will be in partnership with TGS and the Somali Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and will take place this October 8.
Somali Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Hon. Eng. Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, will open the session with an exclusive address. Following this, an expert panel will present on security, fiscal terms and seismic data available. The panellists are as follows:
- Phil McDonald, Regional Director for Africa, Castor Vali
- Scot Fraser, Co-Founder, Ventura International Energy LLC,
- Dr Alessio Checconi, Senior Business Development Manager for Africa and the Middle East, TGS
The 90-minute session will be the first opportunity to hear directly from the Minister following the official licensing round announcement planned for August 4. Attendees will be encouraged to question the expert speakers directly about above and below ground risks, including offshore security concerns, attractiveness of fiscal terms and other factors that are a consideration for any oil and gas business looking to enter Somalia.
There is no doubt that Somalia has become a significantly more attractive prospect since the signing of the country’s Petroleum Law and Revenue Sharing Agreement earlier this year. With up to seven blocks on offer, the round, set to conclude in March 2021, presents Operators with the opportunity to enter one of the last truly frontier passive margins in the world.
The “Somalia Licensing Round: Derisking Above Ground Factors” session will be part of AOW Virtual, a two-day online conference recently launched by Africa Oil Week. The free-to-attend conference will aim to reignite the African upstream after a period of global downtime and will feature strategic outlooks from operators, a natural gas vs renewables debate and more.
The 2020 Somali licensing round features up to 7 blocks that are up for the bidding process which are estimated to be among the most prospective areas for hydrocarbon explorations and production in Somalia. This licensing round opened on 4th of August this year and will be closing on 12th March 2021.
In 2019 a rift has emerged between Kenya and Somalia over an alleged licensing round by the horn of Africa country in London which Nairobi accused its neighbor of licensing some contentious blocks in the Indian Ocean. This was followed Kenya summoning its Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia Amb. Lt. General (Rtd) Lucas Tumbo to Nairobi as well as sent a protest (demarche to Ambassador of Somalia in Nairobi).