(Ecofin Agency) - Somalia will soon launch first offshore hydrocarbon licencing round for exploration of oil and gas. This round will encompass areas off central and southern Somalia and will exclude shallow water block concessions signed in 1988 with Shell and Exxon Mobil.

According to Abdulkadir Hussein, technical director-general in Somalia's Petroleum Ministry, a new state owned national oil company and regulatory body will be created and would begin operation from next year, Energy-pedia reports.

This new state oil firm would initially get a free 10% interest in all hydrocarbon ventures and “later, when the company is established, it will participate with its own funds, up to 30%,” he added.

Somalia is one of the least explored areas of the world. Onshore exploration in the country took place in the 1950s but the fall of the government and subsequent conflict 25 years ago kept oil firms away. Much of the geophysical data that had been gathered by the state was lost or destroyed.

Anita Fatunji