PRIME MINISTER MOHAMED IBRAHIM EGAL

On the record

(Photo credit: Sun, BBC)

SOMALI OIL

Somalia Moves Step Closer to Reviving Oil Sector With New Terms

June 28, 2019, 9:00 AM GMT+3
No details are yet available on commercial terms for operators
Shell, Exxon reached agreement to convert prior concessions
Somalia’s oil ministry has moved a step closer to alleviating more than two decades of oil-sector paralysis.
The country’s new petroleum Revenue Sharing Agreement, or RSA, relates to Somalia’s petroleum law, which was approved last month in an effort to kick-start oil development that has been halted by two decades of civil war. Companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. have stakes in blocks, which has seen no activity since war broke out in 1991.
Under the terms of the RSA Somalia’s central government will retain 55% of revenue from future offshore oil production while its member states will receive the remainder, according to an oil ministry statement released on Friday.
For onshore oil output, the federal government will retain 30% of revenue, while member states and their local communities, which are free to decide how to invest the cash, will keep the rest. However, it’s still working on commercial terms for the companies which would operate the oil blocks.
Somalia’s new licensing round, which opened in February, has 15 offshore blocks on offer. The government is targeting a potential bid date for the blocks, which cover about 75,000 square kilometers, in November and hopes to award the first new licenses in January 2020. A Shell spokesman said the company will not be taking part.
None of the blocks on offer are in a disputed area with Kenya, which the United Nations has yet to determine ownership of.
Somalia’s Petroleum Revenue Sharing Agreement
Source: Somalian government
Despite the government pegging the offshore area’s oil reserves at about 30 billion barrels, it’s going to be a tough sell to international operators.
While war has halted onshore crude production, Somalia’s waters have suffered from piracy. Somalian Oil Minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed said in an interview in London that’s all in the past.
“Offshore Somalia is safe. The two companies that conducted the seismic for us experienced zero incidents. There hasn’t been piracy for a long time,’’ Ahmed said. “The data is promising and the location is attractive.”
The government said seismic data show “a high likelihood” that Somalia’s offshore has “similar geological structures” to large oil and gas reserves which have been found in neighboring basins in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
However, the government hasn’t released details of commercial terms which will be available to international operators it’s trying to attract back to hunt for oil in Somalia.
“We believe our model PSA should be attractive to oil companies and the Somalian people,” Ahmed said, adding that the government is working with the African Development Bank on what sort of commercial terms it may offer. The bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On June 21, the government reached a deal with Shell for repayment of fees related to oil fields which have been accruing since war broke out in the country in the early 1990s. Ahmed confirmed Shell was not carrying out exploration work in Somalia, contrary to an erroneous release from state news agency Sonna. Ahmed said he was “not aware” of the report from Sonna

THE LATE ADVOCATE YUSUF HAJI NUR

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June 28, 2019

On behalf of all family members of Haji Warsame Jowjowle, Warsame Digital Media WDM and on my own behalf, I express deep and hearfelt condolence to the family of the late advocate, Yusuf Haji Nur (RIP).

I knew Mr. Nur as a simple, unassuming and honest man. He was a polite man and had an incorruptible rare nature in today’s world. He was a man of the old school and values.

One also has to appreciate that Mr. Nur was one of the few professionals, who stayed put in his own native land, despite the fact that many of his contemporary colleagues had left the country for comfort overseas. A big factor in the miscarriage of justice in Somalia is lack or shortage of professional judiciary personnel in the administration of justice.

Advocate Yusuf Haji Said had played a central role in the 2000-2001 Puntland Constitutional Crisis, not because he wanted power for himself, but, according to him, to protect the law of the land against a state president and parliament, who desired to extend their rule unconstitutionally as their terms in office had expired under his watch as the President of Supreme Court of Puntland State.

Mr. Nur had passed away recently in Turkey, while undergoing medical care. Nur’s body was airlifted today to Garowe and got final resting place in the City’s Main Cemetery.

Warsame Digital Media WDM
@ismailwarsame.

PS:

Yusuf Haji Nur and Jama Ali Jama were key actors in the 2000–2001 Puntland constitutional crisis, a defining moment that tested the foundations of the young Puntland State.

A USEFUL SONG

Dhageysi wacan

THE SOMALI DOCTRINE

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June 28, 2019
Never re-elect a political leader is a Somali Doctrine and our contribution to the world of politics and political culture. The Doctrine is an exercise of democracy stretched to the maximum possible. It is consistent with George Orwellian famous quote that diapers and political leaders should be changed.
However, the Somali phenomenon has double edges. On the one hand, it cements a message to the president-elect or would-be elected that he or she wouldn’t have a 2nd chance, giving them only to choose one of two options:
  1. Abuse the system while have the chance
  2. Do something worthwhile to leave behind a good reputation, a proud nation and good name for own kids and family.
The Doctrine, on the other hand, had brought misfortune to the people of Somalia by producing bad and corrupt politicians one after the other.
Based on history and experience, most Somali leaders choose the first option. Hence, Somalis have become cynical of politics and politicians.
The Somali Doctrine is deeply rooted in its logic that, where corruption is of epidemic proportion and checks and balance of power aren’t in place or difficult to implement because of this malfeasance, the only choice left for Somalis to fight back is to not never return a political leader to power.

The problem with Ahmed Madoobe of Jubaland is that he has stubbornly violated that Somali Doctrine.

Call it the ingenuity of the Somali Doctrine.

Somalia: Federalism, a Guarantor of Peace Among Somali Clans – allAfrica.com

https://allafrica.com/stories/201302200056.html