Speaking at the 2nd Istanbul Natural Resources Summit (INRES 2026) in T\u00fcrkiye, Somalia\u2019s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Dahir Shire Mohamed, revealed that Mogadishu is eager to transition into mining exploration as offshore oil and gas drilling operations pick up pace along the Somali coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur country has plenty under the ground,\u201d Minister Mohamed stated, emphasizing that the federal government is looking for deeper cooperation with T\u00fcrkiye to tap into these minerals. \u201cWe want to extract and develop them in a peaceful, reasonable, and friendly way.\u201d Reviving the 2016 Mining Pact During a bilateral meeting in Istanbul, Minister Mohamed and Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar discussed accelerating cooperation under an existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two nations in 2016.<\/p>\n
The original agreement covers joint initiatives on mineral exploration, geological mapping, technical training, and direct investment in Somalia\u2019s mining sector. \u201cWe want to review that MoU and see where we can start.<\/p>\n
We want to form a technical committee to review the data we have,\u201d the Somali Minister added. Data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency indicates that Somalia holds an estimated 10,200 tons of uranium resources, with approximately 7,600 tons deemed potentially commercially recoverable.<\/p>\n
Additionally, previous geological surveys indicate significant, largely underexplored deposits of lithium, copper, titanium, gold, and rare earth elements across northern and central Somalia. Progress on Offshore Oil Drilling The push for mineral development comes as the joint Somali-Turkish hydrocarbons initiative enters an active phase.<\/p>\n
The episode underscores the continuing pressure on Somali institutions as the federal government and regional authorities seek to balance security operations with political stability and public confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Speaking at the 2nd Istanbul Natural Resources Summit (INRES 2026) in T\u00fcrkiye, Somalia\u2019s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Dahir Shire Mohamed, revealed that Mogadishu is eager to transition into mining exploration as offshore oil and gas drilling operations pick up pace along the Somali coast. \u201cOur country has plenty under the ground,\u201d Minister Mohamed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":7703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured-business"],"yoast_head":"\n