A US-based seismic data processing company, Spectrum, has dismissed allegations raised by the Kenyan government against Somalia. Early this week, Kenya summoned its ambassador to Somalia and ordered his Somali counterpart in Nairobi to depart to Somalia over allegations that Somalia auctioned off oil, gas and mineral blocks falling within the Kenyan borders. In a statement, Spectrum Geo Limited, which inked an agreement with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) in Mogadishu in September 2015, has thrown its weight behind Somalia dispelling the unfounded allegations by Kenya.
The company says it was assigned to acquire 2D multi-client seismic data offshore the coastline of Somalia, as the first step in the hydrocarbon exploration process: “Spectrum acquired a total of 20,185 km. of 2D seismic data, in a grid stretching from south of the maritime border with the Federal State of Puntland, to north of the maritime border with the Republic of Kenya,” the statement reads in part, “All of this seismic data was acquired wholly within the maritime territory of the Federal Government of Somalia, and no data were acquired within the area currently the subject of the maritime delimitation case with Kenya.”
Spectrum has also dismissed the Kenyan government’s allegations that Somalia conducted an auction in London: “Federal Government of Somalia hosted a successful promotion of the Somalia Offshore Round at the Somalia Oil and Gas Conference. During this successful promotion, no exploration blocks were auctioned,” the company said. The development comes a day after Somali government denied the allegations raised against it.
