Somaliland Plans New Oil Storage Facilities in Berbera

On 14 September 2019, Somaliland Standard reported that the Government of Somaliland will build new oil terminal and storage facilities in Berbera, the first such expansion in 65 years according to the outlet.

The report states that President Musa Bihi laid the foundation stone for the construction of new oil storage facilities during a visit to the Sahil region. The date of the ceremony was given only as 'Saturday'.

BOT manager Ahmed Hassan Embassy told Somaliland Standard that the two new oil storage facilities will hold a capacity of up to 10,000 cubic metres. He also claimed that the current BOT capacity is up to 43,000 cubic metres, and that the new facilities are expected to increase oil storage by 30 percent.

The report does not reconcile these figures. The Somaliland Standard article separately states that the new facility storage could hold up to 43,000 cubic metres, a capacity that appears to conflict with the manager's stated 10,000 cubic metres and with the claim that 43,000 cubic metres is the current capacity.

According to the report, the British colonial administration built the current Berbera Oil Terminal in 1954. The manager also said that the Soviet Union built part of the oil facilities in the 1970s and that the US government constructed some in the 1980s. Engineer Ma'alin Aidid told the president's delegation that the highest capacity storage at the facility, built by the US government in the 1980s, can hold up to 4,300 cubic metres.

The Somaliland Standard report does not provide details on the scope of the new construction, its cost, contractor, funding source, or timeline. It does not establish what has happened since the foundation stone ceremony, and offers no evidence of construction progress or completion.