Roble, Farmaajo say oil exploration deal illegal, vows to take legal action

GOOBJOOG NEWS/MOGADISHU: Outgoing Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, has distanced himself from the new petroleum agreement announced by the Minister of Petroleum, saying that the agreement was illegal and promised to take legal action.

Engineer Abdirashid M.Ahmed had last night announced a new Somali exploration deal with a U.S company and thanked the outgoing president for his commitment to seeing the success of the process.

“We are pleased to announce that we have signed 7 Production Sharing Agreements with COASTLINE EXPLORATION LTD. It is a victory for the Somali people. I thank the President of FGS for supporting the process and encouraging us to complete this task,” said Ahmed.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said, “the alleged agreement signed by the Minister of Petroleum regarding Somalia’s oil affairs is illegal and therefore null and void”.

Prime Minister Roble vowed to take the necessary legal action against the illegal agreement, saying that the agreement was a violation of the nation’s assets as well as the trust of the Somali Nation.

While responding to whether President Farmaajo was aware of the deal, the minister of petroleum told VOA Somali that Farmaajo was actually aware of the deal covering offshore deep-water blocks with Coastline Exploration Limited based in the U.S. which costs $7M.