In the late 1980s, exploration concessions were held by companies
including Conoco and Phillips, which have since merged; Amoco, now
part of BP; and Chevron. They fled the country after dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown during civil war in 1991.
The data collected by oil companies has formed the basis of
interest in Somalia today.
Range Resources, an oil group listed in Sydney, estimates that
the Puntland province - which includes the Mudug region - has the
potential to yield 5-10 billion barrels of oil.
Puntland is semi-autonomous and relatively stable compared with
Mogadishu, where insurgents are launching near-daily assaults on
the government and its Ethiopian military backers.
A reconciliation conference due to open at the weekend is expected
to attract still more attacks.
The government is preparing a new national oil law even though its
authority across the country is limited. Its decision to grant
CNOOC exploration rights in Puntland could spark a dispute with the
local authorities, which have given Range Resources exploration
rights elsewhere in the province.
A western diplomat who follows Somalia from Nairobi cautioned that
he had seen copies of three similar deals signed by the interim
government in the past two years.
"If there is ever enough peace and stability to allow oil to be
extracted, there'll be a huge (argument over the agreements) down
the line," he said.
ausführlicher Artikel Original Quelle:
http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22079067-3637…