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Organisers of Africa Oil Week have announced that it will host this year’s event via virtual online on October 8 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The session will be in partnership with TGS and the Somali Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

Somali’s Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Hon. Eng. Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, is expected to open the session with an exclusive address.

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Following this, an expert panel would present on security, fiscal terms and seismic data available.
The panelists are:

• Phil McDonald, Regional Director for Africa, Castor Vali
• Scot Fraser, Co-Founder, Ventura International Energy LLC,
• Dr Alessio Checconi, Senior Business Development Manager for Africa and the Middle East, TGS

The 90-minute session will be the first opportunity to hear directly from the Minister following the official licensing round announcement planned for August 4. Attendees will be encouraged to question the expert speakers directly about above and below ground risks, including offshore security concerns, attractiveness of fiscal terms and other factors that are a consideration for any oil and gas business looking to enter Somalia.

There is no doubt that Somalia has become a significantly more attractive prospect since the signing of the country’s Petroleum Law and Revenue Sharing Agreement earlier this year. With up to seven blocks on offer, the round, set to conclude in March 2021, presents Operators with the opportunity to enter one of the last truly frontier passive margins in the world.

The “Somalia Licensing Round: Derisking Above Ground Factors” session will be part of AOW Virtual, a two-day online conference recently launched by Africa Oil Week. The free-to-attend conference will aim to reignite the African upstream after a period of global downtime and will feature strategic outlooks from operators, a natural gas vs renewables debate and more.

Further announcements are coming soon. To find these, and to learn more about the Somalia session and AOW Virtual, visit: https://bit.ly/3fxC5CX