By Andualem Sisay
Yetebaberut Beherawi Petroleum (YBP) Share Company, which is the first domestic company to start oil distribution in Ethiopia five years ago, announced that it is constructing 17 additional fuel stations in the country.

When the construction of the stations will be completed within a year, the total number of YBP fuel stations will reach 71. The company has now 12 percent market share of the country with some 21 million birr (1.6 million USD–today’s exchange rate) monthly total sales of oil and lubricants.

YBP’s annual profit for the year ended June 30, 2009 has increased by 33 percent compared to the previous year and reached 4.2 million birr (332,541 USD), according to the announcement made during the 5th Annual Shareholders meeting held yesterday (December 24, 2009) at the Hilton Addis.

YBP also announced that it has started offering share to the public to raise its 36.3 million birr (2.8 million USD) paid-up capital to 100 million birr (8 million USD).

Over its five years of operations, YBP’s investment in fixed assets has reached 49.6 million birr (around 4 million USD) in 2007/8, excluding the 5.2 million birr (411,000 USD) investment in projects under-construction.

The company, which was founded by 21 shareholders with initial capital of 21 million birr (1.6 million USD), is now a sole distributor of BP Lubricants in Ethiopia and Djibouti as of last October, according to Desalegn Alemayehu, managing director of YBP.

YBP joined the fuel market of the country in May 2004, following the Council of Ministers’ decision of October 31, 2003, which allowed domestic investors to enter the sector. Before the decision, the business was under monopoly of foreign oil companies (Shell, Total, Mobil and Agip) for some 50 years.

Now, these big foreign companies decided to leave Ethiopian market. Kobil, Oilibya and Nile Petroleum are the new foreign oil companies entering the country.

According to the industry’s observers, the big international oil companies like Shell and Mobil decided to leave Ethiopian market because the business is not attractive for them anymore.

Meanwhile, currently Dalol Oil Share Company, which is under-formation by selling shares worth 150 million birr (11.88 million USD) to the public, is planning to join oil distributing business of Ethiopia.

Including YBP, currently there are six oil companies operating in Ethiopia, (YB), OiLibiya, National Oil Company (NOC), Kobil and Nile Petroleum, with 600 fuel stations across the country.

It was after YBP entered the oil business that NOC was established by the Ethio Saudi tycoon Sheik Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi and two Ethiopian shareholders with a capital of 100 million Birr.

Recent data obtained from the Ministry of Mines and Energy indicates that the market is dominated Total and National Oil Company NOC, leading the market share with 31percent and 29 percent, respectively.