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.
“The company has discovered that there is a prospect of commercial quantities of crude oil in the region,” Fitsum wrote. 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 amount of gas reserve discovered by Poly-GCL is estimated to be 6 to 8 Trillion Cubic Feet.
Poly-GCL which signed petroleum development agreement with then Ministry of Mines to the Calub and Hilala gas fields in in Ogaden basin is set to start extraction of the crude oil deposits as of tomorrow.
The crude oil deposit is scheduled to be transported to Addis Ababa and other parts of the country where it will be distributed to cement factories.
Officials, from both the federal and Ethio-Somali region will attend the inaugural ceremony which will be held on June 28, 2018. The delegation of official including Meles Alemu, Minister of Mines, Petroleum & Natural Gas will arrive in Ogaden.
