Ethiopia foresees 1 bln. USD from gas export

ADDIS ABABA— Ministry of Mines, Natural Gas and Petroleum disclosed that the recently discovered natural gas in the Ogaden basin of Ethio- Somali State would enable the country to secure one billion USD in the first year of operation.

The Chinese firm Poly-GCL discovered 7-8 billion cubic trillion feet (TFC) of natural gas in Ogaden fields and the volume and quality of the gas asserted to be economically feasible, Minister Motuma Mekassa told The Ethiopian Herald. The Minster noted that gas processing is a very expensive business to carry out locally and agreement was reached with the Chinese company to install a pipeline and transport the gas to Djibouti. Motuma further stated that the firm would also build a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in the Port of Djibouti to process the natural gas and export it to China. He said: “We are expecting a one billion USD revenue from gas export in the first year of operation and anticipating the figure would rise in the subsequent years due to the huge reserve.’’ The Minister indicated that there is an ongoing negotiation between Poly-GCL and Djibouti’s government in the construction of the pipeline and liquefied gas plant and the government of Ethiopia is persuading the two parties to reach the final deal.