Turkey, Somalia Energy Ministers Meet to Explore Energy Cooperation Opportunities

ISTANBUL — Somalia and Türkiye moved to deepen their energy partnership with high-level talks in Istanbul on Monday, as the countries reviewed ongoing hydrocarbon exploration and mapped operational plans ahead of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s upcoming visit to Türkiye.

Somali Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Dahir Shire Mohamed met with Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar to assess the status of joint exploration work in Somalia’s onshore and offshore basins and outline next steps, according to a statement Bayraktar posted on Türkiye’s social media platform NSosyal.

• Talks covered current joint exploration in Somalia’s onshore and offshore areas
• Ministers discussed operational planning for the next phase of cooperation
• Meeting came ahead of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s planned visit to Türkiye

“We are building Türkiye–Somalia energy cooperation on solid foundations,” Bayraktar said in the post. “As Türkiye, we view Somalia as one of our most important partners in Africa, and we believe that cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector will open the doors to a new era in the near future.”

Monday’s meeting is the latest step in implementing a major hydrocarbon exploration agreement signed in March 2024 that granted Türkiye broad exploration and development rights across Somali territory. The deal’s framework allows Türkiye to recover up to 90 percent of costs and to export its share of produced resources, a structure that has fueled public debate in Somalia and the wider region over the balance between investor incentives and national interests.

Supporters argue the partnership can catalyze long-term economic development, capital inflows and expertise transfer as Mogadishu seeks to build an energy industry from the ground up. Critics warn that generous cost-recovery terms and export provisions risk entrenching dependency and could leave the state with limited early revenues. Both sides frame the agreement as a test case for how frontier producers can attract capital while safeguarding sovereignty and social benefit.

Somalia is believed to hold significant oil and gas potential, with estimates pointing to billions of barrels of untapped reserves. Under the timeline outlined to date, drilling operations are expected to begin by 2026, marking a pivotal shift from seismic and mapping to exploration wells. Monday’s talks focused on “operational plans for the next phase,” Bayraktar said, a signal that project design, licensing, logistics and security planning are moving in tandem.

The cooperation builds on long-standing strategic ties between Mogadishu and Ankara and reflects Türkiye’s broader push to expand its footprint across African energy and infrastructure. For Somalia, the stakes are high: a successful transition from exploration to production could reshape the country’s fiscal prospects, while missteps could deepen domestic political strains.

Neither side disclosed detailed timelines or specific field targets following the Istanbul meeting. But with the presidential visit pending and both governments emphasizing momentum, the partnership appears set to accelerate as 2026 nears.

By Ali Musa

Axadle Times international–Monitoring.