Minister of Energy and Minerals Hon. Abdillahi Farah Abdi lead a Somaliland delegation to participate in the umpteenth African Oil Week conference being held in South Africa. This is the third year in a row that the minister and his oil departmental director Mr. Ahmed Iiman have been attending the coveted meeting that was first initiated in 2015.
It brings together governments, national and international oil companies, independents, investors, the G&G community, and service providers.
The Chairman of the Africa oil Week is Olusegun Obasanjo.
This time round the country is expected to receive lucrative overtures from investors in the sector, according to the Director of Press in the Ministry of Energy, Mr. Abdifatah Mire Noor.
He said that it their discussions mainly focusses on how Africa could invest in its oil resources as soon as possible.
He also said that the ministry will furnish details of their deliberations in due course, especially as concerns the latest oil discoveries that seeped in the Salahley area from the oil exploration company Genel.
Director Abdifatah said that this year’s meeting is being attended by 32 oil ministers from the African continent and companies that invest in Africa’s oil resources and international companies, banking institutions etc.
When responding to the special mission of the Somaliland nation Director Abdifatah replied that the Somaliland nation and the Ministry of Energy have been engaged in oil exploration for a long time and have information on the oil blocks in the country. “There are investment companies in the country doing exploration activities such as Genel Energy, Ray Gas and GTS, who were present at the South African conference, so the delegation of Somaliland was presenting the investment companies with opportunities for oil blocks in our country that have not yet been invested”, he said.
He said that recently the House of Representatives approved the oil production regulations law and those of stakeholders’ rights are pending, viz those of the area communities, the state and that of the investing and exploratory companies.
