Ras al khima or RAK from the emirates had a licence since 2013. The oil will be dug within 5 years guaranteed. The government rushed in 2013 without letting the people know what was going on, so for the past 3 years there was a wacyi gelin program called "Hanka Qaranka". In this program all the major politicians, fanaan, aqoonyahaan, and representatives of the various SL communities would give turns talking during an hour long show about the benefits of mineral oil and gas extraction. During this time the government also set up the Somaliland oil protection unit which consists of roughly 500 SL askar who were trained by a private company from late 2013 till now
Much exploration has already been completed. Aerial surveys were done and now they just want to finish the seismic testing. We'll see how things go inshaAllah. But there's not doubt about the oil and gas potential. About 3 of the top 7 oil companies had licences in waqooyi during siyaad barres regime. Also oil exploration contracts aren't simple. Sometimes A company will gain the licence and "farm out" the licence just to make profit without having interesting in actual exploration whether due to risk or other reasons.