Somali Petroleum Authority

What Somali Petroleum Authority does

The Somali Petroleum Authority (SPA) is the federal regulatory body established under Somalia's 2020 Petroleum Law to govern petroleum exploration and production across the country. Headquartered in Mogadishu with a workforce of 51–100 employees, SPA is the exclusive authority for licensing blocks, negotiating and administering Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), and collecting the federal share of petroleum revenue. Its statutory remit extends across eight identified petroleum basins and includes both onshore acreage and the country's largely unexplored offshore, where only one well has historically been drilled and no deepwater exploration has yet occurred.

SPA's principal counterparties are international oil companies. Shell and ExxonMobil together hold roughly 60,000 km² of exploration acreage, TPAO (Turkey's national oil company) operates three onshore blocks (142, 152, 153) under a cooperation arrangement with the Government of Türkiye, and Liberty Petroleum holds additional acreage. The underlying technical base includes approximately 20,000 km of 2D seismic data originally acquired by Spectrum in 2015 and cataloged basin data dating to the first petroleum discoveries in 1948.

The Authority's economic model is regulatory rather than commercial: it earns no product revenue, deriving its financial significance from licensing fees, signature bonuses, and the fiscal terms embedded in PSAs. Under the 2020 Petroleum Law framework, any future petroleum revenue is distributed 55% to the federal government, 25% to producing regional states, 10% to local government, and 10% to non-petroleum-producing member states. The Authority is led by Chairman Eng. Abdulqadir Aden and operates as a non-profit, state-funded institution.

Name

Somali Petroleum Authority

Legal name

Somali Petroleum Authority

Website

https://hbs.gov.so

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Somali Petroleum Authority is Somalia's statutory petroleum regulator, established in 2020 under the Petroleum Law to license blocks, administer Production Sharing Agreements, and oversee exploration by international oil companies across the country's eight petroleum basins.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Petroleum Regulatory Services

NAICS

Regulation, Licensing, and Inspection of Miscellaneous Commercial Sectors (92615)

SIC

Oil & Gas Field Exploration Services (1382)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEUALAAAM

Upstream HSE, Regulatory Compliance & Emissions Management (Methane/Flare)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Oil & Gas (Upstream, Midstream, Downstream and Refining)/Upstream Exploration & Production (E&P)

SECONDARYEUALAAAB

Mineral Rights, Leasing & Land Management

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Oil & Gas (Upstream, Midstream, Downstream and Refining)/Upstream Exploration & Production (E&P)

SECONDARYBPAIAMAJ

Minerals, Mining & Geologic Resources Administration

Business & Public Services/Public Sector & Government Administration/Environmental Protection & Natural Resources Administration

Keywords

• Petroleum regulatory authority
• Oil and gas regulation
• Production sharing agreements
• Offshore licensing rounds
• Upstream petroleum management

Headquarters

HQ city

Mogadishu

HQ country

Somalia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Somali Petroleum Authority regulates and manages Somalia's upstream oil and gas industry under the 2020 Petroleum Law. It issues Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), administers the First Offshore Licensing Round, grants Reconnaissance Authorizations for geological surveys, and provides Surface Access Authorizations for exploration activities. The authority also oversees the Somali National Petroleum Company (SONOC), which can hold up to 20% ownership in petroleum projects under PSAs.

Product overview

The Somali Petroleum Authority (SPA) is a regulatory body, not a typical software or technology product company. SPA regulates and manages Somalia's petroleum industry through several interconnected mechanisms: it issues Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) that govern exploration and production rights for international oil companies; it administers the First Offshore Licensing Round for offshore petroleum blocks; and it oversees the Somali National Petroleum Company (SONOC), which holds up to 20% ownership in petroleum projects. SPA also issues Reconnaissance Authorizations for geological surveys and Surface Access Authorizations for exploration activities. The authority's core functions include regulating petroleum operations, ensuring company qualifications, certifying authorizations, and monitoring the petroleum industry under the 2020 Petroleum Law framework.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Production Sharing Agreements (PSA)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 October 2025Three-day Technical Committee Meeting in Mogadishu (October 10-12, 2025) co-chaired by SPA Chairman Eng. Abdulqadir Aden and TPAO Director Mr. Korhan Akin. Discussions focused on Blocks 142, 152, and 153, including seismic data interpretation, basin analysis, and preparation for drilling phase. The partnership has completed seismic acquisition and processing, with data interpretation underway to identify optimal drilling locations. Cooperation extends to HSE Management System establishment, capacity building, and financial planning frameworks.
• Liberty PetroleumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 March 2024The Federal Government of Somalia signed an oil exploration deal with Liberty Petroleum, an American company based in Phoenix, Arizona. The agreement grants Liberty Petroleum the right to explore three offshore blocks within Somalia's Deepwater zone. This partnership is expected to unlock valuable resources, increase government revenue for investment in education, healthcare, and infrastructure, and create job opportunities within Somalia's oil and gas sector.
• Türkiye (Turkey)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 March 2024Inter-governmental cooperation agreement between Somalia and Türkiye for oil and gas cooperation, signed March 7, 2024. The agreement encompasses exploration, assessment, development, and production of oil and gas within Somalia's terrestrial and maritime blocks. Türkiye will undertake exploration activities including seismic surveys in identified offshore areas. The agreement covers transportation, distribution, refining, sales, and service operations of oil and related products. Further negotiations will delineate roles and responsibilities for future production-sharing arrangements.
• Shell and ExxonMobilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerShell and ExxonMobil are legacy concession holders with 60,000 km² of offshore Somalia. In 2019, they agreed to resume petroleum exploration in Somalia. In 2020, they made a legacy payment of $1.7 million, distributed in accordance with the new Revenue Sharing Agreement. They continue paying surface rental fees and are parties to the Shell/Exxon joint venture E&P roadmap signed with the Federal Government of Somalia.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU): Uganda's upstream petroleum regulator established to oversee licensing, PSA negotiation, and monitoring of exploration and production. Comparable to SPA as a recently established African upstream regulator operating in a frontier context with international IOC partnerships.
• Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC): Tanzania's national petroleum entity responsible for upstream regulation and state participation. Directly comparable as an East African coastal regulator managing deepwater exploration and a national oil company role analogous to SPA's SONOC mandate.
• Mozambique Instituto Nacional de Petróleo (INP): Mozambique's national petroleum regulatory authority overseeing offshore exploration in the Rovuma Basin. Directly comparable as an East African coastal state regulator that has managed large IOC PSAs and faces similar frontier-market capacity-building challenges.
• Petroleum Commission of Ghana: Ghana's upstream petroleum regulator managing exploration and production licensing in the West African offshore. Directly comparable as a recently established national petroleum regulator with a modern PSA framework and IOC licensing mandate.
• Namibia Petroleum Commission: National upstream petroleum regulator for a frontier Southern African jurisdiction that, like Somalia, began opening new offshore basins (Orange Basin) to international exploration in recent years. Directly comparable as a frontier-market upstream regulator managing licensing rounds and PSA frameworks.

Broad incumbents

• Suriname Staatsolie: Suriname's state oil company that combines regulatory oversight, national oil company functions, and frontier offshore acreage management. Comparable to SPA because it sits at the intersection of regulator and national oil company in a small frontier jurisdiction now attracting super-major investment offshore.
• Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (Somalia): Somalia's parent ministry that oversees SPA. Comparable as the policy-setting counterpart within the same jurisdiction and the entity SPA reports to under the 2020 Petroleum Law.

Others

• Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO): Turkey's national oil company that is SPA's most active technical partner, co-chairing the October 2025 Technical Committee Meeting on Blocks 142, 152, and 153. Comparable as a state oil company counterpart engaged in frontier offshore exploration under SPA's regulatory framework.
• Liberty Petroleum: US-based independent oil company that signed an exploration deal with the Federal Government of Somalia in March 2024 for three deepwater blocks. Not a regulator but a directly relevant counterparty and IOC peer operating under SPA's licensing framework.

Regional players

• Guyana Ministry of Natural Resources: Guyana's government authority managing the rapidly developed offshore oil sector. Comparable as a frontier-jurisdiction regulator overseeing a surge in deepwater IOC activity, though in a more mature stage of the exploration-to-production cycle than Somalia.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TheOfficialSPA
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheOfficialSPA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/theofficialspa

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Somali Petroleum Authority