Ethiopia
Ethiopia will begin extracting crude oil on a test basis from reserves in the country’s southeast this week, state-affiliated media and the prime minister’s office said on Wednesday.
Fitsum Arega, chief of staff in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office, said on Twitter that Abiy had met with officials from Poly-GCL Petroleum Investment Limited to “officially kick-start crude oil production test in Ogaden Region”.
“The company has discovered that there is a prospect of commercial quantities of crude oil in the region,” Fitsum wrote.
HE PM Dr Abiy Ahmed met today with the representatives of Poly-GCL Petroleum Investment Limited to officially kick start crude oil production test in Ogaden Region. The company has discovered that there is a prospect of commercial quantities of crude oil in the region. #Ethiopia. pic.twitter.com/CbDVp4Aopc
— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) June 27, 2018
The firm is a joint venture of state-owned China POLY Group Corporation and Hong Kong-based Golden Concord Group.
The state-affiliated Fana media quoted Abiy as saying 450 barrels would be produced on Thursday on a trial basis.
The prime minister added that full scale production of crude oil in the future, would help the state alleviate unemployment and the prevailing foreign currency shortage.
Ethiopia also projects to earn up to 8 billion US dollars annually once it begins exporting natural gas with its full capacity, he said.
A pipeline to export gas to Djibouti, will be launched in September and will take two years to complete.
00:57
Total wins new exploration permit as Congo seeks to ramp up oil production
00:56
"Week of hell at sea": 7 Ethiopian migrants die on boat to Yemen
01:10
Ethiopia appoints new envoy to Somalia as ties improve
00:59
Ethiopia sentences five to death for human trafficking
Go to video
Over 140 Ethiopian migrants presumed dead after shipwreck off Yemen
01:10
Ethiopians plant 700 million tree seedlings in a day in reforestation campaign