Somalia to announce plans for first oil licensing round in December
Somalia will announce plans in December for its first ever oil and gas licensing round, its oil minister said on Tuesday, as the frontier market looks to attract new investment after decades of civil strife. At least three mortar bombs were fired last month at Mogadishu’s international airport, the latest attack in a wave of violence that has afflicted the Horn of Africa nation since clan warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991. Today much of the fighting is between rival clans and an Islamist insurgency, with Al Qaeda-aligned Al Shabaab, which is seeking to topple the U.N.-backed government, launching attacks in Mogadishu and across the country. The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said the minister will announce in December when it plans to launch the bid process in 2020. “We are presenting up to 15 blocks,” Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed told Reuters on the sidelines of an African oil and gas conference in Cape