Somalia’s oil may secure the peace

The federal country is on the verge of launching a licensing round that could be transformative for the country—if IOCs are convinced by improvements to the security situation

The geology of offshore Somalia is proven— and fresh details attracted even more attention at Africa Oil Week in November—as the country prepares for its much-delayed first licensing round in December. An independent assessment of the 15 blocks has found there may be 30bn bl of oil in shallow and deepwater, which is easily accessible so long as it remains free of the piracy that afflicted the area in recent memory. Since the merger of subsurface data providers Spectrum and TGS this year, the Somali offshore has been supported by “a much bigger data library”, according to the first scientist to evaluate it, Karyna Rodriguez, vice president of geosciences at TGS. “We really see oil potential a