Politics & Security
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MOGADISHU — Somalia's landmark offshore oil drilling programme is progressing faster than planned and could be completed by the end of September, a full month ahead of the original October target, Somali Petroleum Authority Director General Eng. Abdulkadir Adan announced.
Adan said the well has now reached a depth of around 3,000 metres, with 470–480 personnel working aboard the drilling vessels. The operation is proceeding as planned, he added, with daily safety checks and continuous monitoring of pressure and ground temperature.
The upbeat assessment is the strongest signal yet that Somalia's most ambitious energy project to date is on track. The drilling is taking place at the Curad-1 well, located approximately 370 km offshore Mogadishu — Somalia's first-ever offshore drilling operation, carried out by Turkish Petroleum's ultra-deepwater drillship Çağrı Bey. The well, whose name means "firstborn" in Somali, sits in water roughly 3,500 metres deep, with drilling planned to extend about 4,000 metres below the seabed to a total depth of 7,500 metres — which would rank it as the world's second-deepest offshore well.
Adan's emphasis on safety protocols — daily inspections alongside round-the-clock pressure and temperature monitoring — reflects the technical complexity of operating at such depths in a frontier basin with no drilling history.
The site was selected after a seven-month seismic survey by the research vessel Oruç Reis, which collected 3D data across approximately 4,500 square kilometres in three offshore blocks. Petroleum Minister Dahir Shire Mohamed has said the current phase focuses on testing whether commercially viable hydrocarbon reserves exist, with first exploration results expected by the end of 2026. The stakes for the country are considerable: estimates from 2012 suggested Somalia's reserves could be worth $8.5 trillion across 53 offshore blocks along its 3,000-km coastline, with at least 10 billion barrels in place.
If the accelerated timeline holds, Somalia could have its first answers about what lies beneath its waters sooner than anyone expected a potentially defining moment for a nation seeking to transform itself from aid dependence into an energy producer.
