Ethiopia begins oil production from Ogaden Basin



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By Ruari Phillips

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – The Chinese public corporation Poly Group is working with another Chinese company, Golden Concord Group, to develop oil and gas projects in Ethiopia.

The conglomerate, named POLY-GCL, began mining from the Ogaden Basin, located on the border of Somalia, in May. The construction of a 550 km pumping pipeline to the port of Djibouti is underway and a major export is expected to begin in 2021.

The total cost of this development project is estimated at $ 4 billion. The South African oil and gas exploration companies are SouthWest Energy, Africa Oil Corp., GBP Global Resources and Gazprombank Group

POLY-GCL signed five agreements with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines in 2013 to explore 117,151 square kilometers from the Ogaden Basin. . At least 4.5 trillion cubic feet (cu. Ft.) Of gas was discovered

Once fully operational, 3 million cubic feet of LNG (liquid natural gas) are expected to be exported in the first year and 6 million cubic feet of second year. Black Rhino Group has already invested $ 300 million in the pipeline from Ethiopia to the coast of Djibouti.

Currently, oil is trucked between Addis Ababa and the city of Djibouti for both imports and exports. change all that. Turner and Townsend won a contract to manage its construction. The company is based in Leeds and specializes in natural resource sectors

Currently, oil is being trucked between Addis Ababa and Djibouti City for both imports and exports but the pipeline is expected to change all this . POLY-GCL began working in three areas of Hilala and Calub towns of Ogaden. The Calub field is estimated at 2.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Half of the refinery's output will be directed to the Ethiopian market and the rest to neighboring East African countries. POLY-GCL organized the basin area into ten blocks – 2 under development and 8 under exploration.

Natural gas and condensate are the main products while there is also crude oil in some tanks. In addition to Ogaden, Ethiopia has 4 sedimentary basins elsewhere: Gambela (west), Mekele (north), Southern Rift (south) and Abay (west central).

Zhu Gong Shan, also known as China's greenest billionaire is the CEO of POLY-GCL. The company has 192 employees and puts strong emphasis on the supply of efficient and clean energy services. By exporting gas from Africa, they hope to solve air pollution in China, a country of 1,379 billion inhabitants. Initial production started in Ethiopia, but only on a small scale. 450 barrels a day provide gas condensate for local manufacturers and cement plants. Eight gas production wells were drilled and prepared for production.

Ethiopia has now joined Kenya and Uganda as the only three serious oil producing countries in East Africa. Sudan, in the northeast, is the seventh largest operator on the continent producing about 487,000 barrels a day, but because of political tensions has not been able to fully exploit the current situation. industry. Nigeria is at the top of the list in Africa and very popular with European and American refiners. Uganda and Tanzania are from other countries in East Africa where there is fresh oil and gas – although the export does not come from any other country in the world. not yet started here

. 19659003] The Russian company Rosatom Africa has recently started construction of a nuclear research center and two huge hydroelectric dams are nearing completion. Renewable energy is a government priority for obvious reasons, but oil and gas have a realistic potential for providing the hard currency that this country needs.

Ethiopia's LNG will be shipped to China via a dedicated terminal in Djibouti. Carriers with a capacity of 177,000 m3 (m3) of cargo tanks are mainly adopted. Once the gas reaches the port, it will be processed and liquefied before shipment.

The initial development of the LNG plant in Djibouti occupies an area of ​​about 50 hectares. Its main processing and auxiliary facilities include a feed gas pretreatment unit, a liquefaction unit, an LNG storage facility, a transmission system, production and administration buildings.

POLY-GCL works in close collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines. This is a good thing because oil and gas can have positive or negative effects on a country that has it, depending on how revenue is processed. President Abiy Ahmed insists that profits will be reinvested in improving services for the Ethiopian people

The role of the ministry is mainly to generate basic geoscience data of the country, to promote the mineral potential and oil, negotiate and private investors and ensure that they conduct mining and oil operations in accordance with their concession agreements. Hopefully this new development will not only bring benefits to POLY-GCL and reduce emissions in China, but will also help to make Ethiopia a middle-income country as it wishes.

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