Saturday, November 24, 2007
NAIROBI (AFP) — A delegation from Canada's Africa Oil Corporation is visiting the Somali semi-autonomous region of Puntland to brief leaders on its planned oil exploration activities for next year, a statement from the region said Friday.
AOC chief Rick Schmitt President and two drilling experts arrived in the region on Thursday and held talks with Puntland President Adde Muse and government officials.
The team also visited the prospective basins in the Nogal and Dharoor Valleys in northern Somalia where the company is expected to drill four exploratory wells early next year, the statement said.
Puntland rulers and AOC, formerly known as Canmex Minerals Corporation, in January signed a Production Sharing Agreement despite opposition from local Somali clans.
The firm will spend 50 million dollars (34 million euros) in exploration expenditures.
Several other companies including China's CNOOC and China International Oil and Gas (CIOG) are reported to have signed agreements with Puntland, which was controlled by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed before he became Somali president in 2004.
The Horn of Africa nation, which has had no functioning central government since 1991, has attracted several foreign energy companies that are interested in prospecting for oil.
Before the country plunged into anarchy in 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted, geological exploration indicated that Somalia could have oil reserves given its proximity to the oil-rich Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
A scramble for resources has fueled the complex Somali conflict that has defied numerous bids to restore a functional national administration.
Source: AFP, Nov 24, 2007