Disputed oil blocks at stake as law gives Somalia power to sell
Demonstrators demand a solution to the maritime boundary dispute between Somalia and Kenya. Somalia can now hold public auctions for its oil stocks under a new policy. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has signed a law that gives the central government powers to sell the country’s oil blocks for commercial drilling, giving his administration full control of the unexploited crude deposits.
The new Petroleum Act paves the way for creation of a state-owned oil company with authority to sign exploration deals with foreign entities that have been lining up for the country’s more than 200 petroleum blocks.
