The Somali government has signed an oil exploration agreement with United States-based Coastline Exploration, according to a statement released by the company.
Recent major finds of oil and gas deposits in Namibia, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania have encouraged investors to flock to Africa in search of new deposits.
Somali National News Agency quoted petroleum minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed as saying that the agreement signed with Coastline was the finalisation of an earlier deal signed in February.
Coastline said that it had paid a $7 million ‘signature bonus’ to the government and would now proceed with exploration.
[Image: https://coastlineexploration.com/operations]