PROMISE AND PERIL IN SOMALILAND

[SuldaanOfSanaag]

Rachel is from new zealand but wants to travel to somaliland from Egypt where she covers middle east news from.

recent oil drilling off the coast of Somaliland promises new opportunities for the region, but also peril for hopes to create a new sovereign state.




I’m traveling to Somaliland to find out what’s going on.


What’s brewing in Somaliland? Oil is shattering 20 years of quiet poverty in the Horn of Africa, and the ripples could spread throughout the region.

Journey with me in June 2014 as I meet with tribal power players and international oil executives. Discover how oil is dangling the lure of economic prosperity and security before Somalilanders, but at the same time could dynamite long-held dreams of independence from Somalia.

Will poor, conflict-riven regions like Somaliland cope with their new wealth, or will they become the next Nigeria or Sudan?


Throughout East Africa, countries are rushing to mine their underground riches. With this comes questions about money, environmental protection, and regional geopolitics that even wealthy nations such as Australia and Canada struggle with.




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Here’s what you’ll get:

Exclusive dispatches from the field, in videos, photos and articles.

Monthly features on what’s really happening in East and North African energy geopolitics.

Access to every story, by every writer on BEACON.

The Horn of Africa is known for terrorists, and not much else. I intend to report on why - for better or worse - it’s time to pay attention to this forgotten corner.

You’ll get real time stories about the sights and smells of Somaliland, while finding out about the the resources revolution of East Africa. Your generous backing will pay for flights and hotels, security and visas, and, most importantly, the chance to tell you some great yarns.

A Taking home their daily allowance of water during the drought in 2012, Oxfam

Why Somaliland? Why now?

Somaliland has a unique problem: it is not its own country, just an autonomous province of tumultuous Somalia.

This year is important as hopes ride high for the talks over independence, but the introduction of oil money could make things ugly. Somaliland must not only walk this delicate political line, but also dodge the ‘resources curse’ and pacify terrorists and pirates on two borders, in order to break the seemingly inevitable cycle of oil and conflict in Africa.

http://www.beaconreader.com/projects/pr ... somaliland

[Fermi]

Somalia has an estimated 110 billion barrels of oil, the U.S uses 6.89 billion barrels a year. Hypothetically, Somalia can sustain the U.S's thirst for 15 years, give or take. 15 years may seem short but it is a relatively long period when dealing with a lucrative nonrenewable resource.

It appears Somalia has already signed a contract with the British oil company Soma Oil.
http://www.somaoilandgas.com/news/3

Is oil worth it?
Short answer, yes. It is highly profitable and if funds are utilized in a responsible manner it can give the nation the financial kick start it needs. Currently, our main exports consist of livestock and bananas. On the global market, neither is profitable and both are limited. The likelihood of Somaliland seceding is slim, as they have been on an unsuccessful secession campaign for over 20 years. Instead, Somaliland should consider how it can productively aid greater Somalia, and bringing in billions of dollars isn't all too shabby.

I have two specific questions regarding oil in Somalia
1. Is it land or sea based?
2. What extraction method will be used?
From the information I have gathered, the oil is offshore so it would require offshore drilling and, possibly, secondary extraction.

[original dervish]

The oil/gas is found in both onshore/offshore basins, with the majority offshore.
Most of the oil majors prefer to work offshore because it will be safer. They already have around twenty different navies patrolling the region.

[LiquidHYDROGEN]

Somalia has an estimated 110 billion barrels of oil, the U.S uses 6.89 billion barrels a year. Hypothetically, Somalia can sustain the U.S's thirst for 15 years, give or take. 15 years may seem short but it is a relatively long period when dealing with a lucrative nonrenewable resource.

It appears Somalia has already signed a contract with the British oil company Soma Oil.
http://www.somaoilandgas.com/news/3

Is oil worth it?
Short answer, yes. It is highly profitable and if funds are utilized in a responsible manner it can give the nation the financial kick start it needs. Currently, our main exports consist of livestock and bananas. On the global market, neither is profitable and both are limited. The likelihood of Somaliland seceding is slim, as they have been on an unsuccessful secession campaign for over 20 years. Instead, Somaliland should consider how it can productively aid greater Somalia, and bringing in billions of dollars isn't all too shabby.

I have two specific questions regarding oil in Somalia
1. Is it land or sea based?
2. What extraction method will be used?
From the information I have gathered, the oil is offshore so it would require offshore drilling and, possibly, secondary extraction.

Oil wealth in the hands of intelligent and patriotic people can do wonders for SL. SL may never officially secede, however it will never be controlled by a Somalia again. It is autonomous and will remain so forever. In the Span of 20 years, oil can be a gamechanger for us but we have a lot of work to do and a lot institutions to build first. We are already severely under-achieving. Oil wealth in the hands of current somalis would be nothing short of a nightmare.

This is what bedouin arabs have done with their oil wealth:

[Fermi]

Somalia has an estimated 110 billion barrels of oil, the U.S uses 6.89 billion barrels a year. Hypothetically, Somalia can sustain the U.S's thirst for 15 years, give or take. 15 years may seem short but it is a relatively long period when dealing with a lucrative nonrenewable resource.

It appears Somalia has already signed a contract with the British oil company Soma Oil.
http://www.somaoilandgas.com/news/3

Is oil worth it?
Short answer, yes. It is highly profitable and if funds are utilized in a responsible manner it can give the nation the financial kick start it needs. Currently, our main exports consist of livestock and bananas. On the global market, neither is profitable and both are limited. The likelihood of Somaliland seceding is slim, as they have been on an unsuccessful secession campaign for over 20 years. Instead, Somaliland should consider how it can productively aid greater Somalia, and bringing in billions of dollars isn't all too shabby.

I have two specific questions regarding oil in Somalia
1. Is it land or sea based?
2. What extraction method will be used?
From the information I have gathered, the oil is offshore so it would require offshore drilling and, possibly, secondary extraction.

Oil wealth in the hands of intelligent and patriotic people can do wonders for SL. SL may never officially secede, however it will never be controlled by a Somalia again. It is autonomous and will remain so forever. In the Span of 20 years, oil can be a gamechanger for us but we have a lot of work to do and a lot institutions to build first. We are already severely under-achieving. Oil wealth in the hands of current somalis would be nothing short of a nightmare.

This is what bedouin arabs have done with their oil wealth:

I'm not particularly sure how autonomy sans sovereignty would benefit Sland, especially if Somalia attains stability.

Building institutions, I assume you're referring to education, health care, public facilities ect, requires funds Somalia does not have. Money comes before infrastructure, as the pics you've included demonstrate.

Oil wealth would be owned by the state, assuming it would be nationalized, allowing it to redistribute wealth in a socialist manner.

I truly believe oil can reboot the Somali economy but only if we recognize it does not end there, as it is a finite and polluting resource. Investing in solar, thermal and wind energy would ensure cheap, clean and accessible energy for centuries to come.

[original dervish]

Centuries?.......most Somali politicians can't see beyond lunch time.

[LiquidHYDROGEN]

From the information I have gathered, the oil is offshore so it would require offshore drilling and, possibly, secondary

I'm not particularly sure how autonomy sans sovereignty would benefit Sland, especially if Somalia attains stability.

Building institutions, I assume you're referring to education, health care, public facilities ect, requires funds Somalia does not have. Money comes before infrastructure, as the pics you've included demonstrate.

Oil wealth would be owned by the state, assuming it would be nationalized, allowing it to redistribute wealth in a socialist manner.

I truly believe oil can reboot the Somali economy but only if we recognize it does not end there, as it is a finite and polluting resource. Investing in solar, thermal and wind energy would ensure cheap, clean and accessible energy for centuries to come.

SL does not need official sovereignty, in fact it would be a bad thing. It would bring us uat the mercy of foreign banks and speculators. However, it will remain autonomous and independent from southern control. You are right, education and healthcare come before infrastructure. But you are wrong in that we can afford it with a little adjustment of state budgets.

[Fermi]

From the information I have gathered, the oil is offshore so it would require offshore drilling and, possibly, secondary

I'm not particularly sure how autonomy sans sovereignty would benefit Sland, especially if Somalia attains stability.

Building institutions, I assume you're referring to education, health care, public facilities ect, requires funds Somalia does not have. Money comes before infrastructure, as the pics you've included demonstrate.

Oil wealth would be owned by the state, assuming it would be nationalized, allowing it to redistribute wealth in a socialist manner.

I truly believe oil can reboot the Somali economy but only if we recognize it does not end there, as it is a finite and polluting resource. Investing in solar, thermal and wind energy would ensure cheap, clean and accessible energy for centuries to come.

SL does not need official sovereignty, in fact it would be a bad thing. It would bring us uat the mercy of foreign banks and speculators. However, it will remain autonomous and independent from southern control. You are right, education and healthcare come before infrastructure. But you are wrong in that we can afford it with a little adjustment of state budgets.

You've misunderstood my comment regarding institutions and infrastructure. Infrastructure is the bones of a society, literally. In order for a society to function it must have basic amenities, such as roads, which infrastructure provides. Institutions elevate society, they make life easier, i.e healthcare facilities. As such, institutions do not come before infrastructure but both require money.

I did not claim we could afford anything by adjusting the state budget, rather my argument was that we could use money generated by oil to fuel development.

Lastly, I still do not see the point of being semi-autonomous if the state you are seceding from is functioning and you are not fleeing from political persecution.

[LiquidHYDROGEN]

LOL Somalia is functioning? In what capacity? It's dead or dying and it's carcass is being torn apart by ravenous mooryaan and foreigners alike. Let's just say it did have peace, that does not remedy the rampant corruption and tribal enmity which makes SL look like an enlightened scandinavian country in comparison. There is no future between our two countries except maybe trade, but even then they have nothing we want currently.

As for infrastructure, there are two kinds; social and physical. Right now SL is lacking both. We need Schools and hospitals just as much as we need roads, rail, reliable electricity and water supplies and sewage treatment. We currently have a small budget but with currency and budget adjustments we should be more than capable of paying for and building the basics. From there on it's only up.

[Fermi]

LOL Somalia is functioning? In what capacity? It's dead or dying and it's carcass is being torn apart by ravenous mooryaan and foreigners alike. Let's just say it did have peace, that does not remedy the rampant corruption and tribal enmity which makes SL look like an enlightened scandinavian country in comparison. There is no future between our two countries except maybe trade, but even then they have nothing we want currently.

As for infrastructure, there are two kinds; social and physical. Right now SL is lacking both. We need Schools and hospitals just as much as we need roads, rail, reliable electricity and water supplies and sewage treatment. We currently have a small budget but with currency and budget adjustments we should be more than capable of paying for and building the basics. From there on it's only up.

If being the operative word.