Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil have paid $1.7 million to Somalia to lease offshore blocks for 30 years, the country's state news agency reported on Friday. "Shell/Exxon Mobil have paid $1.7 million to Somalia as the preliminary rent for 30 years," SONNA reported. Shell and Exxon Mobil had a joint venture on five offshore blocks in Somalia prior to the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in the early 1990s.