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Somalia has been accused of circulating an unofficial maritime map that includes offshore blocks that are claimed by Yemen.

World Bank Group (WBG) affiliate the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) has issued a $5.67m risk guarantee for the Baidoa solar power plant. Construction of the project has already started.

After a nine-year struggle, including a UK Serious Fraud Office investigation, the backers of Coastline Exploration have secured the chance to open up one of the world’s last unexplored oil frontiers, where above-ground challenges could still be more difficult than the subsea drilling, writes John Hamilton.

One of the most sensitive decisions facing incoming President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed is whether to confirm Coastline Exploration’s rights over a number of highly prospective offshore oil and gas blocks. Some important and influential forces would prefer development to proceed without the Houston-based indie’s involvement, but Coastline’s management is determined to hold on.

UK-based climate fund manager Camco Clean Energy has partnered with Energy Peace Partners (EPP) to manage the Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-Rec) Aggregation Fund.

In a trading and operations update issued just ahead of its 12 May annual general meeting, London-listed Genel Energy said that, beyond its focus of two decades on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, it was planning work in two African jurisdictions.

Prospective upstream players including Russian entrepreneur Alexander Dzhaparidze have encountered yet another setback in efforts to secure production-sharing agreements offshore Somalia. Houston-based Coastline Exploration, of which Dzhaparidze is a non-executive director, has taken on the business objectives of UK-registered Soma Oil and Gas, which first applied for the PSAs in 2015. Somalia approaches a financial precipice less than one month before the conclusion of a difficult election cycle, but its most recent attempt to get the oil deals signed has ended despite apparent support from petroleum minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed and Somali Petroleum Authority chairman Ibrahim Ali Hussein; the agreement was vetoed by both President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.

The election of a new parliament and president for the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has already been delayed by one year and the government, led by incumbent president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (‘Farmaajo’) recently delayed the deadline once again.

The unrecognised Republic of Somaliland has slowly been gathering momentum behind its claim for independence from Somalia, while seeking to attract investors – as underlined by Genel Energy’s plans to drill an exploration well there in 2023. Most participants in a debate in the House of Commons on 18 January argued UK recognition of Somaliland would be appropriate given the autonomous territory’s stability and governance record and federal Somalia’s disarray.

Jersey-registered Genel Energy is planning to drill a well on Block SL10B13 in the unrecognised Republic of Somaliland in 2023, following the signing in December of a farm-out agreement with Taiwan-based CPC Corporation subsidiary Opic Somaliland Corporation. In a trading update on 18 January, Genel chief executive Gill Higgs said the successful farm-out had opened the way to drill an exploration well.

Eni’s Mlima-1 deep-water well in the offshore Lamu Basin has confirmed Kenya’s interest in exploiting its offshore potential only three months after the International Court of Justice ruled against it in a maritime border dispute that places blocks under Somalia’s jurisdiction

Kenya has vowed not to abide by an International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgement issued on 12 October that found in favour of Somalia’s claim to a contested sea area covering more than 100,000km2 and which contains oil and gas reserves.

Dubai-based logistics giant DP World has created an investment joint venture with UK development finance institution CDC Group. DP World will contribute its stakes in the ports of Dakar in Senegal, Sokhna in Egypt and Berbera in the Republic of Somaliland and says it expects to invest a further $1bn through the platform in the coming years.

The capacity of its complex clan dynamics and political divisions to derail efforts to improve governance and contain Al-Shabaab is again apparent as the murderous dispute between President Farmaajo and Prime Minister Roble threatens to derail Somalia’s faltering progress. Murky politics leave even the most attractive oil and other assets stranded for want of investors able to mitigate Somalian risk, writes John Hamilton.

A rarity until a few years ago, battery and renewable power plants have more recently outcompeted fossil fuel projects without subsidy in several African markets. The AIX: Financing Battery Storage meeting heard about the extent Bess projects are making headway, despite financiers’ reservations.