ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey signed an oil and natural gas cooperation deal with Somalia on Thursday, the Turkish Energy Ministry said, further strengthening bilateral ties after agreeing a defence deal last month.
The energy ministry said the energy deal includes exploration, evaluation, development and production of oil in Somalia’s land and sea blocks.
“With this agreement, we will carry out joint activities to bring the resources of Somalia to the Somali people. We aim to strengthen Turkey’s presence in the Horn of Africa with new collaborations in the field of energy,” Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The deal includes transportation, distribution, refining, sales and services operations of oil and other products from land and sea projects.
In February, Turkey signed a defence and economic cooperation agreement with Somalia and will provide maritime security support to help the African country defend its territorial waters.
(Reporting by Can Sezer; Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Daren Butler, Alexandra Hudson)
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