Exploration companies in conjunction with Puntland state authorities are expected to update the public on the Shabeel-1 well this week, according to our source with Dharoor joint-exploration firm Africa Oil Corporation.
Our contact tells us that oil presence, and in a sizable quantity, has been encountered at the Shabeel-1 well, signifying a major potential yield for the greater Dharoor Valley basin. He told us that the Puntland Minister of Petroleum Issa Farrah is expected to address not just the local public, but the entire Somali public on the findings at the current stage, and that it is one with a significant impact. We were told that this can be expected within days.
Last week, our source stated that a public address was to be expected from Faroole during that 7-day block though it did not materialize as expected, but an announcement is on the horizon very soon, he stated, either from Puntland or the exploration companies, if not both.
Additionally, our source in Bari Province tells us that Puntland figureheads stated that exploration had for the most part ended, and that extraction is the next phase. We’ve been told that on top of this current well, programs for other wells will continue into the next two years in order to maximize Puntland’s petroleum-bearing potential.
Puntland leader Abdirahman Mahamud is currently situationed in the town of Qardho, roughly at the halfway point between the state capital Garowe and the Dharoor Valley drilling site.
(updates from Dissident Nation fill follow progress)
Hirsi Fiqi, Editor
DissidentNation.com