Somalia signs Shell-ExxonMobil E&P roadmap

Agreement with joint venture explorer boosts Somalia’s post-conflict effort to attract IOCs to its long-delayed licensing round

Somalia reached an agreement with a Shell-ExxonMobil joint venture on 24 February that covers future exploration of offshore oil and gas blocks, according to the East African country’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.  The agreement enables historic concessions held by the decades-old Shell-Exxon joint venture to be converted to a new model production-sharing agreement (PSA), which was published earlier this month following the ratification on 8 February of the country’s first Petroleum Law.  “I am delighted we have agreed an initial roadmap with the Shell-ExxonMobil joint venture,” petroleum minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed wrote in a statement. “This gives us confidence in [ou