http://dissidentnation.com/bp-negotiati ... nd-region/British Petroleum, the world’s fourth largest corporation and the third largest energy firm in the world, has reportedly entered negotiations with representatives from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region. The troubled Puntland State has just rid itself of most of its infamous piracy issue and became the latest target of Al-Shabaab terrorists as local cells declared a new war on the poor region.
BP, which entered negotiations around the time of the recent London Conference on Somalia, has expressed interest to explore the area around Aluula in the Bari region. Currently, several small exploration firms are exploring around communities of Ufeyn, Dharoor, and Iskushuban, all of which are districts in the province of Bari, Somalia’s largest region and the site of what could be the first-ever successful well.
Puntland’s minister for international cooperation, Abdulkadir Hashi, had earlier stated to the Guardian and the Observer newspapers, both based in the UK, same as BP, that the firm’s expertise in offshore drilling had enticed him to seek out their services first. This leads many to believe that Aluula will be looking at offshore exploration.
The district of Aluula is the northernmost point of Somalia and the easternmost point of Africa, and additionally, the district hugs both the Gulf of Aden – serving as the easternmost point of the Gulf in Africa, as well as the Indian Ocean – serving as the northernmost point of that ocean in Africa. Recently, officials in the Somali government, tied to Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, had stated that the Indian Ocean’s offshore potential, which recently began to peak with discoveries of natural gas in Mozambique and Tanzania, may hold as much, if not more than 100 Billion Barrels of crude oil just along the coast of Somalia.
A deal is expected to be struck before the extraction of oil, which both Hashi and exploration teams cite will be happening within just a few weeks time.
