1 day Ago By Qatar Tribune
Qatar tribune Agencies Turkey’s national oil company and Somalia’s petroleum authority signed on Thursday an agreement for hydrocarbon exploration and production covering Somalia’s onshore territory, a top official said. The deal reached in Ankara marked a continuation of the energy cooperation between the two nations, building on positive momentum in bilateral ties in recent years. “Our national company, Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), and Somali Petroleum Administration signed the ‘Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Agreement’ between Turkey and Somalia for onshore areas,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said in a post on X.
With this agreement, the TPAO will carry out two and three-dimensional seismic exploration activities in three land blocks of 16,000 square kilometers (6,178 square miles) in Somalia, he further said. Afterward, it will carry out drilling activities according to its findings, he added. Bayraktar welcomed Dahir Shire Mohamed, minister of petroleum and mineral resources of Somalia, and held a delegation meeting at the ministry, he said.
Moreover, he said that they “took a new step” that will take the partnership between Turkey and Somalia in the field of energy to “a different stage and reinforce our strategic cooperation.” “Again, in the first stage, with seismic studies and then rapidly with drilling activities, we will move on to the detection and production of oil and gas fields in those areas. In this sense, this exemplary cooperation between the two countries continues to grow stronger,” he said after the signing ceremony.
Last summer, Ankara and Mogadishu inked an agreement on hydrocarbon exploration and production. Turkey then dispatched its domestically developed seismic research vessel to Somalia to begin seismic surveys for oil and natural gas in three licensed maritime jurisdictions later in the year. “Hopefully, in the next stage, we aim to develop concrete projects in Somalia.
This time in mining,” the minister also said. Bayraktar stated that they hoped the project in question would make a great contribution to the stability, development of Somalia and the stability of the region, and said: “We are currently carrying out a very active activity there. We will be even more active.
I hope that we will get good results in all these works.” “As Turkey, we were by Somalia’s side during their worst days. Copy 13/04/2025 10.
