ANALYSIS-Power play at centre of Somalia oil debate

By Katie Nguyen

NAIROBI, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Away from the media glare on reconciliation talks in Mogadishu, another set of high-level negotiations is taking place in the Somali capital.

Oil executives, lawyers and politicians are meeting to thrash out the details of a proposed national hydrocarbon law for Somalia, one of the final frontiers for untapped energy reserves.

Spearheading the bill is Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. Experts say the debate is as much about the political tussle between him and President Abdullahi Yusuf as it is about oil in a country where commercial reserves have yet to be discovered.

Besides its chronic insecurity and a transitional government still struggling to assert its authority, Somalia remains at best a speculative bet for Western oil majors.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Horn of Africa country has no proven oil reserves and only 200 billion cubic of proven natural gas reserves.

But that didn't stop Yusuf from signing a production-sharing agreement with China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) last year, the Financial Times reported.

Gedi, who distanced himself from the deal, has maintained that valid deals cannot be struck until the new legislation is in place. He urges foreign firms to negotiate exclusively with the interim government.

Oil could be vital to Somalia, a country mired in poverty and violence since it slid into civil war when warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.