genel pulls out of somaliland

http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Turkish_oil_company_pulls_out_of_Somaliland_citing_security.shtml

Somalia: Turkish oil company pulls out of Somaliland, citing 'security'
10 Sep 10, 2013 - 12:41:19 PM

HARGEISA, Somalia Sep. 10, 2013 (Garowe Online) – An Anglo-Turkish oil exploration company, Genel Energy withdrew its expatriates from Somalia’s separatist region of Somaliland in an unofficial move, Garowe Online reports.

Independent sources in Hargeisa tell Garowe Online that following security threats and political pressure, Genel Energy decided to permanently stop exploration operations and pull the company’s teams out of Somaliland regions, of northwestern Somalia.

Somaliland government which awarded an exploration license for onshore blocks SL-10-B and SL-13 with a 75% working interest in August 2012 to Genel Energy confirmed the pullout; however, Somaliland officials say the operations were halted due to political pressure with the possibility that Federal Government of Somalia threatened license revocation.

According to local reports and sources close to Somaliland's separatist administration, the exploration company staffers noted that security issues forced them to vacate exploration fields.

"In the face of a deteriorating security situation we are temporarily suspending our seismic operations," said a Genel spokesman, in a statement that annoyed Somaliland officials.

Garowe Online has learned that Somaliland renewed the previous license by signing Oodweyne Production Sharing Agreement which covers blocks SL-6, SL-7 and SL-10-A in November 2012 with Genel Energy Company.

In regard to that agreement, Genel dispatched its first mission to Somaliland at the end of 2012 and commenced to conduct exploration activities at selected targets in Togdheer region of Somaliland.

Before suspending its operation, in an official statement titled “Our operation in Somaliland”, Genel Energy said the drilling has been scheduled to begin in mid-2014.

On August 6, Somali Federal Government signed an oil and gas exploration deal with newly established UK-based company Soma Oil and Gas, but according to the agreement, Soma Oil and Gas would carry out seismic surveys in territorial waters while the onshore regions are likely to witness limited operations.

UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea warned in 2013 confidential report that Western commercial oil exploration may spark new conflict in Somalia: "These inconsistencies, unless resolved, may lead to increased political conflict between federal and regional governments that risk exacerbating clan divisions and therefore threaten peace and security," the UN report noted.

Somaliland’s neighbor to east, Puntland warmed of “consequences” in Somaliland’s pursuit of oil exploration in Sool and Sanaag regions.

"Somaliland is creating conflict in the region. Somaliland cannot give land to foreign companies to explore oil when the land does not belong to Somaliland," Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole said while he was delivering a keynote address at Puntland State House in Garowe on 1 August, a date on which Puntland people celebrated 15 years of statehood.

Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia, unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.