(Reuters) Nov 1 Somalia will launch its first hydrocarbon licensing round early next year targeting offshore blocks, a government official said on Tuesday.

Shallow water block concessions signed in 1988 by Shell and ExxonMobil are excluded from the new bid round, said Jamal Kassim Mursal, permanent secretary at the ministry of petroleum and mineral resources. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf and Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)