In 1548 CE, the port city of Zeila was annexed by the Ottoman Empire. The reason for this was that Zeila is situated in a strategic location on the Red Sea because it is near the Bab el Mandeb strait; a key area for trade with the East. For 300 years, Zeila enjoyed trade with other countries and was home to Arab, Persian and even Indian merchants. On 1884, when the empire was on the brink of collapse; Egypt, an Ottoman vassal at that time, occupied western parts of Somaliland, the other regions being controlled by Somali clans. Then, During the Scramble for Africa era, the region now claimed by Somaliland was the British Somaliland Protectorate.
The city of Berbera host numerous buildings from the Ottoman era. The Ottoman also built a drinking water system in Berbera around 1800. Recently Turkish government has invited officials from both the Somalia federal government and Somaliland government to hold first talks in Turkey in the mid of this month, but there is great oil interest now between Somaliland and Turkey .
The Anglo Turkish oil giant genel has big operations in Somaliland In August 2012, Genel was awarded an exploration licence for onshore blocks SL-10-B and SL-13 in Somaliland, with a 75% working interest in both. Genel extended its presence in November 2012 with the acquisition of 50% participating interest in the Odewayne Production Sharing Agreement which covers blocks SL-6, SL-7, SL-10A.
Onshore Somaliland is a relatively unexplored region, with few exploration wells drilled. The total size of the blocks is approximately equivalent to the entire Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Genel took the opportunity because of encouraging indications including onshore oil seeps and existing geological data showing favourable conditions for hydrocarbons to have accumulated in numerous large tilted fault blocks and sub-basins. In addition, the basins of Somaliland were contiguous to Yemen prior to the opening of the Gulf of Aden in the Oligocene-Miocene – similar sedimentary sequences and structural styles are expected in Somaliland.
We are targeting resources of over 1,000 mmbbls in blocks SL-10B and SL-13. The Odewayne block has a similar resource potential to this, targeting in order of 1,000 mmbbls. A substantial 2D seismic campaign is to commence for all the blocks in the second quarter of 2013, with the first exploration well targeted for the second half of 2014.
Abdirahman bidhaan bcfm radio Bristol 93.2fm
