Türkiye is one of Somalia’s key international partners, providing military training, security assistance and support for infrastructure development.

Their partnership gained further momentum in February 2024, when the two governments signed a defence and economic cooperation agreement focused in part on strengthening the Somali Navy and improving the protection of the country’s extensive coastline.

Energy cooperation has also become a major part of the relationship, particularly as Somalia seeks to determine whether its offshore waters contain commercially viable oil reserves.

In April 2026, the Turkish drilling vessel Çağrı Bey arrived off the Somali coast to begin operations associated with the Curad-1 well, marking an important stage in the country’s offshore exploration programme.

The project is intended to help establish whether oil deposits can be found beneath the seabed. However, exploration alone does not confirm the existence of commercially recoverable reserves.

Any decision to proceed with production will depend on drilling results, technical assessments and whether extraction can be carried out economically.

If commercially viable reserves are confirmed, offshore oil development could create opportunities for government revenue, employment and investment.

The scale of those benefits would depend on the size of the deposits, production costs, infrastructure requirements and the arrangements governing the management of any future oil income.

Clear reporting of exploration results and transparent oversight of the sector will therefore be important as the project advances.

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