British Company To Start Exploration And Drilling For Oil Soon

The company has also been contracted to explore for Natural Coal, Zercon Titanium… and to fully refurbish the Berbera cement factory

HARGEISA, SOMALILAND (SL Times) 18 October - Seminole Copenhagen Group, a company based in UK, is going to start oil and minerals exploration and drilling in Somaliland soon.

According to an agreement signed with the Somaliland ministry of Water And Mineral Resources on October 10, 2002, the British company has obtained concessions to explore and drill for oil and minerals in Somaliland. A technical team is expected to arrive here next month, by the latest, to begin preliminary assessment.

A team comprising two SCG executives, Faisal Kasim, and Stephen J. Musker arrived in Hargeisa earlier this month to negotiate a deal with Somaliland government officials in the area of hydrocarbons exploration and drilling. The Heimal 1 and II oil wells are expected to operated by Seminole Copenhagen Group. The wells drilled and capped by American oil company Sheveron in early 1988, are located in the western coastal area of Somaliland. Sheveron, which was granted, to operate in an area strectching from Berbera to Zaila by the regime of Siyad Barre, withdrew its operations in haste following the fall of more than 2/3 of the country into the hands of the SNM by mid 1988. Sheveron and other American companies had obtained permissions to conduct oil exploration and drilling operations in the northern parts of the former State of Somalia.

After its total liberation by the SNM in January 1991, Somaliland withdrew from the union with Somalia and instead proclaimed independence.

The SCG is an offshoot of Seminole Oil & Energy Ltd, which is managed jointly by Faisal Kasim and Alexander Sefre with Jermaine Jackson (brother of Michael Jackson) as its head of public relations. In addition to oil, the SCG will explore for minerals such as natural coal, Zercon and Titanium. According to one study, Somaliland’s deposits in Natural Coal are estimated at 5 billion tons. The company has also been contracted to fully refurbish the Berbera cement factory.

Before the Somaliland agreement has been concluded, Seminole had reportedly approached the US state department for advice as to whether investment in Somaliland's yet unexploited oil and minerals sector could risk attracting American government objection or reservation. According to SCG, the state department’s response had been not only positive but also encouraging as well.