#ASDailyScoop: Ethiopia in talks with Russian, Chinese and UAE petroleum production companies
Addis Abeba – Ethiopian Ministry of Mines announced that the government is holding consultations with petroleum production companies from Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates over potential partnerships on extracting the country’s gas resources.
During a briefing to government media on the ministry’s six months performance report, Takele Uma, Minister of Mines & Petroleum, said Thursday that the Ethiopian Government has been consulting with renowned petroleum companies ever since Ethiopia received the first gas reserves certificate stating the presence of seven trillion cubic feet (TCF) in the Ogaden Basin, located in Somali regional state. The American company Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc (NSAI), a petroleum property analysis and consulting firm with offices in Dallas and Houston,Texas, conducted the study and provided the gas reserves certificate.
Details on who the companies are and how far the talks have progresses hasn’t been provided.
It is to be recalled that in September last year, Ethiopia had terminated its long-standing contract with the Chinese POLY-GCL Petroleum Group Holding Limited, which has been engaged in oil exploration in Ethiopia. It followed a warning letter issued by the Ministry in March of the same year with a list of conditions to be met by POLY-GCL related to its years of activities in the Ogaden Basin. AS
