First oil well drilled in war-ravaged Somalia for 20 years (AFP) – 21 hours ago MOGADISHU — Drilling has begun on the first oil well in war-torn Somalia in 20 years, as Canada's Horn Petroleum Corp. broke ground on an exploratory site in the breakaway region of Puntland, officials said Tuesday. In a statement received Tuesday, the company said it is "pleased to announce the spudding of the Shabeel-1 well on the Dharoor Block in Puntland, Somalia... operations have also commenced on the Shabeel North-1 well." Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole in a ceremony Monday said the well drilling was "a big day for the people of Puntland and Somalia in general." "We will be no longer begging people for resources after the drilling of the oil wells," he said. "Our young educated men and women will not suffer unemployment, everyone including ordinary labourers will have their opportunity." Security was tight at the site, with hundreds of heavily armed troops deployed to protect the petroleum operations, officials said. The United Nations says Somalia is the world's worst humanitarian crisis, while regional armies and the Western-backed government are fighting Al-Qaeda linked insurgents in the south. However, security is better in northern regions. Horn, a unit of Africa Oil Inc. has a 60 percent stake in -- and is operator on -- the Dharoor and Nugaal blocks in semi-autonomous Puntland. The other partners on the Dharoor block are Range Resources Ltd. and Red Emperor Resources NL, both of Australia, each with a 20 percent interest. "Somalia, and in particular Puntland, remain one of the last under-explored countries that have high potential for vast reserves of hydrocarbons," Range Resources said in a statement. The company said Somalia was divided up in the late 1980s into a number of oil exploration concessions, but that exploration ceased with the start of the still-raging civil war in 1991. It noted a World Bank coordinated study aimed at encouraging private investment in the oil potential of eight African nations put Somalia and Sudan, at the time still a unified nation, at the top of the list of potential commercial oil producers. Africa Oil is a Vancouver, BC-based hydrocarbons exploration company that also has interests in exploration licenses in Kenya, Ethiopia and Mali. Red Emperor Resources has interests in Georgia as well as in Puntland.

Engineers and visitors explore an exploratory well near Dharoor town, 350 km (217 miles) from the port of Bosasso on the Gulf of Aden in Puntland January 17, 2012. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221682.html

Oil exploration begins in Somalia Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:42AM GMT Engineers and visitors explore an exploratory well near Dharoor town, 350 km (217 miles) from the port of Bosasso on the Gulf of Aden in Puntland January 17, 2012. A Canadian oil company says it has begun drilling exploratory oil wells at two locations in Somalia's impoverished region of Puntland. Canada's Horn Petroleum Corporation, a unit of Africa Oil, said in a Tuesday statement that it is "pleased to announce the spudding of the Shabeel-1 well on the Dharoor Block in Puntland, Somalia... operations have also commenced on the Shabeel North-1 well." The drilling is expected to take about three months and that the recoverable oil is estimated at around 300 million barrels, the Vancouver-based company said. During a ceremony on Monday, Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole said the well drilling was "a big day for the people of Puntland and Somalia in general." "We will be no longer begging people for resources after the drilling of the oil wells," he said. "Our young educated men and women will not suffer unemployment, everyone including ordinary laborers will have their opportunity," Farole went on to say. The wells are the first to be sunk in the war-torn country since civil war erupted two decades ago. Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced people in the world. MN/DB/AZ

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/37893/

^^^Osman dont ruin the thread son..

Shirkadaha shidaalka ka soo saaraya Puntland oo faahfaahiyay qorshaha soo saarista shidaalka ee shalay ka bilaabantay dooxada Dharoor. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:59:30 -0500 am -05:00 -18000 Dubai,Jan 17 -Shirkadda Horn Petroleum Corporation oo iyadu gacanta ku haysa hawsha qodista shidaalka ee Dooxada Dharoor ee Puntland ayaa war saxaafadeed ay soo saartay ku sheegtay in ay ku faraxsantahay bilaabista qodista ceelka kowaad ee Shabeel-1 oo la bilaabay isniintii shalytoole. Shirkadda ayaa sheegtay cabirka dhulka la qodayo shidaalka uu noqdo 3km iyo 800m. Shirkadda Horn Petroleum Corporation oo iyadu saami ku leh qodista shidaalka ee Puntland ayaa tilmaantay in qodista loo adeegsanyo Riigga Sakson 501, waxana ay xustay in ay ku raja-weyn tahay in oqodistu iyo qiimaynteedu ay qaadato 90beri. Shirkadda ayaa tilmaantay in la qiyaasay in illaa saddex boqol oo million oo birmiil oo shidaal ah laga soo saarikaro degaanka ay qodistu ka socoto. madaxa iyo maamulaha shirkadda Horn petroleum ayaa sheegay in bilaabista shidaalka Dharoor ay tahay tallaabo wax ku ool ah hore loo qaaday, oo lagu qiimaynayo shidaalka ku jira waqooyiga Somalia. Horn Petroleum ayaa xustay in ay taageero weyn ka heshay dawladda Puntland iyo dadka Puntland ee degaanka oo iyagu doonaya in dib loo bilaabo horumarkii dalka , kaddib 20 sano oo khilaaf ka jiray Somaliya. Warsaxaafadeedka shirkaddani Horn Petroleum Corporation oo laga leeyahay dalka Canada ayaa sidoo kale lagu sheegay in shirkaddu ay leedahay 60% danaha gawlgalka qodista ee dooxada Dharoor iyo Nugaal ee Puntland –Somaliya. Dhinaceedana War saxaafadeed ay soo saartay shirkadda Africa Oil ayaa lagu sheegay in shirkaddaasi ay si weyn ugu faraxsantahay bilaabista qodista ee ceelka shabeel-1 ee Dharoor ee Puntland ,waxana ay sheegtay in shirkadda la hawlgelaysa ee Horn Petroleum Corporation, ay imika wado hawsha qodista ceelka kowaad. Shirkadda Africa Oil ayaa xustay in ay leedahay 51% hantidda shirkaadda horn petroleum, isalamarkaana ay dano ku leedahay dalalka Kenya, Ethiopia , Mali iyo Puntland (Somalia). Madaxweynaha dawladda Puntland Dr C/raxmaan Sheikh Maxamed (Farole )ayaa si rasmi ah u furay qodista shidaalka ee dooxda Dharoor ee Puntland, waxana madaxweynuhu uu hore u sheegay in haddii shidaalka la soo saaro lagu horumarindoono dalka, islamarkaana la bilaabayo mashaariic dhinaca adeegyada bulshada ah. Dawladii hore ee Puntland ee uu madaxwetynaha ka ahaa Gen Cadde Muuse Xirsi ayaa gashay heshiishyadda shidaalka ee Puntand sanaddii 2006-dii Cabdirashiid Muuse Saciid Daljir Boosaaso.

Oil Drilling Begins in Somalia’s Puntland Posted Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 8:40 am A Canadian oil company says it has begun drilling for oil at two locations in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region. In a statement Tuesday, Vancouver-based Africa Oil says Horn Petroleum, a unit of the company, is drilling wells in the Dharoor Valley and at Shabeel. It says both prospects are located along a rift system that has produced oil in Yemen. The company says it will take about three months to access the recoverable oil, which is estimated at around 300 million barrels. Africa Oil says the oil exploration wells are the first to be drilled in more than 20 years in war-torn Somalia. Horn Petroleum President David Grellman says the company has strong support from the Puntland government and local communities, who he says are eager to see development resume in the region after years of strife.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/somalias-northern-region-of-puntland-begins-drilling-for-oil/2012/01/17/gIQAl0334P_story.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16600649

Horn spuds Puntland well Canadian player Horn Petroleum has spudded the Shabeel-1 well on the Dharoor Block in Puntland, Somalia. Josh Lewis 17 January 2012 02:31 GMT Horn added it had also started drilling operations on the Shabeel North-1 well which will be spudded after the completion of Shabeel-1. Both Shabeel-1 and Shabeel North-1 are large fault block prospects which lie on a Jurassic aged rift system that Horn said was part of the same system in the highly productive Masila and Shabwa basins in Yemen. The company expects source rocks to be Jurassic Kimmeridgian shales in the deep portion of the rift immediately down dip from the Shabeel prospects and reservoirs are expected to be sandstones and carbonates of the Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic systems. Horn estimated both prospects to hold combined potential oil volumes of over 300 million barrels of recoverable oil and claimed they would be the first oil exploration wells to be drilled in the country in over 20 years. Both wells are being drilled using the drilling rig Sakson-50 and are expected to each take 90 days to complete and will satisfy the first exploration period minimum work obligations of the production sharing contracts for both the Dharoor and Nugaal Blocks. Horn is operator and holds a 60% interest in both blocks with Australian companies Range Resources and Red Emperor also each holding a 20% interest in the blocks.

Burn Notice;775816 wrote: Hi Duke, yes it has been a long time coming mate... like you, I could see the benefits this exploration would bring. This is not merely an investment for me. Like you, I feel very proud today for what has been achieved by the company but more so by the puntlanders and excited about what the future brings. you have a way with words ...this will indeed be a paradigm shift.... Dubai mark II The company deserves a great deal of praise, they stuck to it and did not flinch. They shall be rewarded in due time. As we say insha Allah khair, things are looking up for the Somali's and Puntland is leading the way..

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/hrn116i.pdf

Dr_Osman;775791 wrote: For Goodness Sakes look at the site The Picture of the century...

Burn Notice;775771 wrote: Post of the day GD this is not only HUGE for oil exploration but will show the world that puntland and somalia is open for busienss....Gold, iron ore and uranium companies will now see opportunites to invest in Somalia's vast natural resources Burn Notice, long time my friend. I am glad that you are here, you were one of those early supporters of the project. I am happy that this event has taken place. The paradigm shift moment in modern Somali history. Today we have something that the world craves. Now lets get that black stuff out!

We need an injection of cash into the country and this is one way.

^^^^Is that time of day adeer?