Somaliland expects to sign an agreement with a fourth international energy company this week to begin exploring for oil in the semi-autonomous region, Energy Minister Hussein Abdi Dualeh said. An accord with the Middle East-based company, which Dualeh declined to identify, has been completed, he said in a phone interview on Nov. 21 from Somaliland. The other three companies already operating in the country are London-based Genel Energy Plc (GENL) , RAK Gas LLC, owned by the government of Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, and Oslo-based DNO International ASA. (DNO) “All talks are concluded” with the fourth company, Dualeh said. “It’s just a matter of inking the deal, which hopefully is going to be this month.” Somaliland, situated on the tip of the Horn of Africa , declared independence from Somalia in 1991, though no country has officially recognized it as a sovereign state. Somaliland and the […]