Turkey signs oil and gas exploration deal with Somalia

Turkey and Somalia signed oil and gas exploration deal on Thursday, extend increasing bilateral relations after concluding a defense agreement last month.

The deal focuses on hydrocarbon reserves in its exclusive economic zone, which hasn’t been advanced since the failure of the Somali government in the early 1990s. It also involves land exploration.

The agreement was signed by Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Somali Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed in Istanbul.

The proceed came after Ethiopia signed an agreement in January that allows it naval and commercial access to ports along Somaliland’s coast, in exchange for acknowledgement of the breakaways region’s independence.