best thing i have read yet on the net.

LOL, this oil thing has destroyed some people's brain cells, i call it the bilan effect.

kingofkings;784523 wrote: Well, what do you expect from these people? They feel that their useless opinion is some how going to hold back people who want to have everything that other societies take granted for like being able to live a normal life. Anyway, for what it's worth, they can write, protest, or sing, the reality on the ground is that Puntland will focus on its future and its political and economic interest; regarless of who agrees or disagree. Yet another beautiful post, especially the second sentence. These people who eat 7 meals a day are trying to set the conditions for which our destitute people in Somalia can eat. Absolutely disgusting to say the least. I always heard the saying, never shop for groceries on a full stomach. And it applies here; don't ever speak for the poor if you can't adjust your mentality to their situation. These people are trying to apply their privileged White urban liberal logic to a situation concerning very desperate people who need their stomachs filled today not tomorrow. Again, I'm appalled and sickened by the extreme ignorance and selfishness these fake-intellectual thugs are spewing. Carafaat;784787 wrote: But my concern has to with the way Range Resouces has been propagating this project(actually only a exploration conctract) and creating a bubble in order to keep raising funds on the market through its listed stocks. Shares that were intially worthless(or had little value) have been pumped up with a lot of PR, making sure many Somali's bought these shares creating a stock market bubble, so few individuals from Range can sell their wortless shares during the piek. After earning millions eventually the share price will again restore close to its initial real value and many folks who bought these shares during the piek, will loose. Again, these peoples' attempts at slowing down progress on this issue is so blind that they make silly errors along the way. Range Resources does not even target Somali investors in the least bit, nor has it ever advertised on a Somali media site. And why does Range's business conduct concern you in an area where it does not even concern Somalia (their stock portfolio)? Everyone knows that Range is not here for the long run, they want to generate attention - attention for Somalia's resources, and sell out to a bigger corporation. That's how exploration has been carried out the last 20 years, especially in lesser-known African hotspots. The more Range advertises Puntland (and its none of our business why they do that) the better it is for Puntland's quest to explore its resources. This coverage is great, and both sides win. This is not charity, do not make it sound that way. Both sides have something to gain. The small Western firms increase their stock portfolio and their chances of selling their lucrative Puntland holdings, while Puntland generates interest and traction (does Al-Jazeera's recent special report ring a bell?) about its resources, which greatly increase its chances of being explored by others. This is business. This is victory all around. And Range deserves a paycheck as much as anyone else, they risked their entire careers for this, and its insulting for anyone to say that they are bad for any of their involvement. They have been brave and commendable in their efforts to bring attention to Somalia's resource potential, and for permanently placing Puntland as a place to be watched in the near future. Somalis are so enslaved by handouts that they cannot respect business anymore.

Peace Action;784744 wrote: For hungry people, the site of oil rig looks good. This is the essence of this entire exploration venture. This project is the dreams of an entire nation of people being realized. Let us certainly hope and pray for the best outcome, and better yet let's work towards it. Amin Insha Allah this will be the ticket to Somalia's emancipation from hunger.

NASSIR;783771 wrote: Timur, There were many of them at the oil exploration ceremony, particularly the main Garaad of Dhahar. Recall past conflicts were triggered by lack of consent from the community (revisit old articles). I'm aware of the reasons for past conflicts and the reasoning behind them, and at no point during that period did I stand against their right to resist previous campaigns by Cadde Muuse to explore their regions. Its good to see that things have changed and that the people of the region (starting with their leaders) are not taking a backseat to these big events.

A well-meaning person does not use MickyD-fed glasses to steer a project that affects people in a place where there are no MickyD chains. This person questions the oil because they cannot see Somalia move on without their participation, its as simple as that. What do those of us who want this project to succeed get out of it? Nothing. And at best it provides us only a chance to work in a lucrative civilian job that we can get today in Qatar, Abu Dhabi or any other present oil-producing state, even in Alaska or Alberta! A well-meaning person looks at both sides and supports the side that can produce the most amount of utility - this is ethics 101. There is no risk for the communities in northeastern Somalia whether or not this project works out, least of all some "environmental" risk - this is not the lush Niger delta nor Mississippi delta nor the Orinoco delta, this is arid northern Somalia where there are no rivers or lakes to be contaminated (if this person or the illiterate Bilan girl had been educated even marginally on the topic they would know that the contamination of river deltas are the archetype of oil-based environmental degradation - clearly not a case anywhere in arid Puntland). In any case, if one of chimera's arguments is that "now is the right time" (a common & ignorant phrase) then it defeats their silly environmentalist position. I'm also an environmentalist (a genuine one, not the type who pops up when it suits them) and I see no case to be made here, there is no "environment" to destroy in the middle of arid Bari; had this been in the Jubba river valley or on the shores of Ras Aseyr you could make a case and I would support it, but this is not that. If I had more time I would write a bit longer and put chimera in his/or her corner, perhaps tomorrow will be more open.

I'm not sure what this is, but it certainly looks like it. Just as every community in mid-19th century Northern California mobilized to take advantage of the resources on their land, every community in Northeastern Somalia today is rushing to dig for a better life. It would be counter-productive to sit idly while drought ravaged the land, when you can acquire the means to get out of that poverty. And as much as newborn-environmentalist Somalis want to nag about the inconveniences of resource exploration from their lofty suburbs in the diaspora, a desperate and poor community in rural Somalia will look at things entirely differently Insha Allah, everything works out. This is a case in which the people voiced their requests---excuse me, I mean demands---to excavate their resources. I say, give the people what they want.

http://www.galgalanews.com/?p=8629 I am happy for reer Sanaag/Galbeedka Bari, they have realized that no one is out there to rob them of their resource wealth and that they will be left in the dust if they decide to live in the stone age while the rest of Puntland looks to join the modern world. They see how the progress of such resource discoveries has already brought peace among the clans of Bari and that oil has thus far brought only good, even when it has not been tapped yet. The rest of the Somali people will drop their petty disputes and insecurities and join those who have begun working for a better tomorrow. The community said to President Faroole, "Bring the companies of progress to our regions so we can turn the rocks beneath our soil into the rocks that build Las Qoray!" Mansha Allah!

MoonLight1;783717 wrote: Arabs are not and will not be happy Somalia drilling oil. and the evidence is there for the last 21 years, they just watched us destroy each other with no help but only famine handouts through western organisations, and look how they helped Yemen, Libya, Iraq, and now Syria. Ignorant and paranoid statement. Saudi Arabia was the #1 proponent in oil exploration in Somalia in the 1980s, and today UAE is the #1 supporter of the current exploration effort. The Arabs view Somalia in a good light, and since they share the Arab League with Somalia they view Somalia as a potential addition to their total wealth. Somalis and their anti-Arab myths are quite sad. As for Iraq and Yemen? Who helped them? Yemen is an absolute hell, and Iraq's inter-Arab violence has not dissipated one bit and it has taken more lives than the war in Somalia.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/somalia-age-oil Oil drilling has reached the Puntland region of Somalia and brought with it a mixture of hope and fear over the gains ordinary Somalis will reap from a foreign-driven venture. Mogadishu – Horn Petroleum Corporation, a Canadian oil and gas company, announced the commencement of its oil drilling operations in areas under the control of the regional government of Puntland in northeast Somalia. The company is currently preparing to drill the Shabeel-1 well to a depth of 3,800m (about two miles) following a test drill to a depth of 50m. Horn Petroluem Corporation will drill, for a period not exceeding 90 days, in the Dharoor Valley in the east of the region. Assuming that the drilling attempt is successful in Dharoor, the rig will then be moved to drill two other wells in the Nugaal region. There has been no oil drilling in Somalia for over 20 years, a period in which the country faced a severe crisis that led to the toppling of the central government in 1991. Foreign companies have not extracted oil and minerals since the fall of the central government due to the inability of Somali factions and various drilling companies to agree on drilling terms, in addition to the weak security situation in the country. Shabeel-1 and other wells close-by are located in the northern Dharoor region. The well will operate in the Jurassic aged rift system, which is part of the same system from which oil was extracted in the Masila and Shabwa Basins in Yemen. Those basins contain an estimated 6 billion barrels of oil. Shabeel-1 is estimated to have over 300 million barrels of recoverable oil. It should be noted however that the type of source rocks found suggest that the well’s prospects are below what was originally expected. Studies, however, indicate that the sandstone and the carbonate reservoirs of the lower Jurassic and Cretaceous systems found in the Somali territories are similar to Yemen. Horn Petroleum president and CEO, David Grellman said: “... drilling in the Dharoor Valley will be a major milestone in the evaluation of the oil potential of Northern Somalia. We have had very strong support from the Puntland regional government and the local communities, who are all keen to see development resume in the region after prolonged periods of internal strife.” “These wells are the first to be drilled into the deep areas of the rift basins and will be key to unlocking the hydrocarbon potential of this unexplored area,” he added. Social activist Zahra IshakIn, from Garowe, the administrative capital of the Puntland region, said oil production in the northeast area of the country will likely signal prosperity and good fortune for all the Somali people. She points out that seven tribes united after oil production commenced in the region and that most outstanding issues between them were solved. “That is why we want to move forward in this direction so we would all unite once again.” The Puntland regional government signed a deal with Horn Petroleum and its partner companies, granting them 51 percent of the company in return for allowing the drilling. Some MPs in the transitional Somali parliament, however, opposed the deal because it gives the companies a bigger share. Other MPs called for a halt to all drilling operations, until the country is stable again. A political and constitutional dispute emerged between the Somali transitional government and the Puntland regional government in 2006 when the latter signed secret deals with companies that the central government had not approved. The Somali petroleum law provides that each regional government recognized by the central government in Mogadishu has the right to extract oil and minerals on the condition that the Somali parliament approves the signed deals and the oil profits are divided between the central and regional governments. The President of Puntland, Abdirahman Mahmoud Farole, pointed out that the Somali Prime Minister, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, had officially approved the commencement of the drilling operations in Puntland, and had signed a memorandum approving the drilling two weeks ago in the city of Bosasso, in the Eastern Province. Farole also said there are indicators that Somalia will witness an easing in crises like hunger, infectious diseases and civil war in the near future. At the drilling ceremony, he said: “This fuel well is not only for Puntland. It will benefit all Somalis, and will not be a reason for an economic conflict between Somali provinces and tribes.” The Puntland government’s petroleum, energy, minerals, and water ministry expects that additional oil fields will be discovered in the region in the coming few months. The ministry revealed that efforts are underway to expand the oil exploration project in addition to building refineries in order to increase oil production capacity. The drilling operations that began following the signing of the deal with Horn Petroleum were preceded by geological and geophysical surveys in different areas of the north-eastern regions of the country. The minster of petroleum, water, minerals, and energy in the Somali transitional government confirmed that the central government will receive half of the oil output from every autonomous region, according to the petroleum law approved by the transitional parliament in 2007. In the process of preparing for oil exploration in the north, a high-ranking Somali officer who refused to be identified confirmed that military and intelligence forces that belong to the Puntland regional authorities tightened control over the Dharoor Valley and Nugaal in order to repel any possible “terrorist” or tribal attacks. The former Somali government led by Major General Siad Barre was reluctant to sign exploration deals with US companies Chevron and Sun Oil and with the French company Total in 1985 after discovering oil in Kota, Brawa, Homboy, Afgooye, Mogahishu and other areas in the center and north of the country, especially near the border with Djibouti and Kenya. The government at the time demanded decreasing the companies’ shares from 51 percent to 48 percent, but company officials refused. After that, Somalia fell into chaos in the wake of the collapse of the military government on 26 December 1991. Economic expert Mohamed Ibrahim expects Somalia to become a place of interest for powerful countries based on its resumption of oil production. This may encourage investment in the oil, agricultural, and industrial sectors in addition to the of export of sheep, bananas, pure honey, fragrances, and fish to Arab and European countries.

Chimera;783608 wrote: Xiinfaniin my call for more transparency and accountability comes as result of reading the Oil-histories of countries like Chad and Equatorial Guinea, and the environmental destruction ongoing in Nigeria. I will take a decade of bad media coverage with our resources and nature safe, over a decade of cleaning an environmental disaster, You live in the diaspora eating seven meals a day, your opinion on environmental disaster in this scenario is a joke. "Our resources" - lol. For someone who lives in Norway or California its expected of you to have a bad sense of seeing other peoples' perspectives. I'll take the opinions of the poor remittance-reliant families in Bari instead, and I'm sure the environment is not their first concern or even fifth concern. This naive kid reminds me of those White liberals who care more about African wildlife than African people.

I have researched all of this, Dr_Osman, and you are absolutely right, those are oil storage tanks, and they are quite common, but in the case of Bosaso, they are definitely destined for immediate export.

kingofkings;781552 wrote: where have you been:confused: lol

Interesting. I believe those are water tanks, Dr_Osman, although they do look very similar to crude oil tanks.

After this display of cowardice and barbarity, the secessionists have placed a curse on themselves. May Allah relieve the wounded innocent.

We should all be following this story.

looool, just another day in Somaliland.

Shabeel-1, Ufeyn District, Bari Province, Dharoor Valley, Somalia.

Xaaji Xunjuf;767884 wrote: ^^ No pictures mean it didn't happen I just wanted to bump this topic and laugh at the silly secessionists. I wonder how many of them are taking pills for depression right now...

Why are small-minded secessionists still buzzing about petty tribal issues when the whole world let alone the Somali collective people are looking at the issue of energy exploration on this day? It just shows how some people live for the simple things and cannot look beyond petty issues. I pity them.

http://hiiraan.com/news/2012/Jan/wararka_maanta13-16564.htm

http://www.somaliareport.com/index.php/post/2153/Somaliland_Soldiers_Fight_Amongst_Selves I wonder what led these misguided young Somali men to their desperate ends. AUN. This is why we must appeal to our besieged kin in the Northwest who are kept under the influence of drugs by Ethiopian cartels, and who are forced to accept the deviant social standards of the West and their vices. I worry about the sanctity of our Northwestern brothers and sisters. As a Puntlander, my hand is always extended to them.

Xaaji Xunjuf;751039 wrote: Saraakiisha iyo cidamada ayaa ka soo kicitimay magalada muqdisho ee casimada Somaliya waxaana imaatinkooda Garowe lagu saleeyay in ay adkeeyaan amaanka wafuuda qaran ee shirka ka soo qaybgalaysa. Maybe this lunatic should read his own articles. They are there to protect Sheikh Hotel and only for temporary reasons.

Khat is a crazy drug.

Oil in Somaliland? LOL. There have only ever been 3 major oil sites in Somaliweyn - Dharoor (Ufeyn) and Nugaal (Xolxol and Garowe) - two of those sites are well within Puntland while Xolxol is disputed by many factions. Somaliland is as resourceless as it is infertile. To break it down, Conoco stated the following; Xolxol has 690 billion barrels, Ufeyn has 1.3 billion barrels, Garowe has 2.4 billion barrels estimated total. These may all be a bit lower, but estimated is that Garowe and Ufeyn have 1.2 billion barrels in-place each at the least. I can't wait to see what PL brings in 10-15 years. My goodness!