Chinese Firm To Produce Condensate Gas In Ethiopia
May 20, 1997
Ghion Hagos, PANA Correspondent
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PANA) - A Chinese firm, Zhongyun Exploration Bureau
(ZPEB) has won a contract for the production of condensate gas from a vast
natural gas reserve in the Ogaden area of eastern Ethiopia at a cost of
over 5.6 million U.S. dollars.
Under an agreement signed with a local firm, Kalub Gas Share Company, in
Addis Ababa over the weekend, ZPEB is to produce condensate gas within a
year.
ZEPB will undertake work on eight of the 10 natural gas wells at Kalub,
about 1,200 km east of Addis Ababa in the Ogaden area of the Ethiopian
Somali regional state, according to reports Sunday in the government press.
Some 45 Chinese professionals are to be deployed in the field to produce
for the first time condensate gas at Kalub, along with unspecified number
of Ethiopian workers.
The Kalub gas project was launched in September 1996 with a
66.6-million-dollar loan obtained from the World Bank, and another 102
million birr (about 16.3 million dollars) allocated by the Ethiopian
government and private shareholders.
Fifty-five percent of the 5.631 million dollars expenditure of the project
to be carried out by the Chinese firm is to be covered by the Ethiopian
government, and the balance by the private shareholders, Aklilou Belete,
technical manager of the Kalub Gas Co., was quoted as saying.
to be carried out by the Chinese firm is to be covered by the Ethiopian
government, and the balance by the private shareholders, Aklilou Belete,
technical manager of the Kalub Gas Co., was quoted as saying.
It is during the second phase of the project, involving another agreement
with either the same Chinese firm or another company altogether, that in
addition to condensate gas, diesel, petroleum and kerosene will be produced
from the vast natural gas reserve at Kalub.
Although no estimate of the volume of gas in the eight wells at Kalub has
been disclosed, the natural gas reserve in the Kalub area is estimated to
be over 35 billion cubic metres.
The figure was provided over a decade ago by Russian experts who conducted
exploration in the Ogaden area under a technical assistance programme of
the former Soviet Union to Ethiopia.
The production of condensate gas within a year is expected to alleviate
the problem of firewood in Ethiopia as a whole, and in particular in the
vast semi-arid Ogaden area where the inhabitants have virtually cut all the
trees and vegetation over the years for firewood.
Comment
Good for the Ethiopian government, and bad for the oil rich middle
eastern nations. Ethiopia will not only economically benefit from the
oil and gas development project, but for the first time they will be
able to sever thier energy dependence from the Arab nations. This will
also give them a much needed political clout in the region, where two of
their neighboring countries are members of the arab league (i.e.,
Somalia and Sudan), and their effort to crush the Islamist exterme may
become more pronounced.
By hiring a chinese firm may also help them strenghthen thier bargaining
ground with the western oil componies.
Historically, the Ogaden region was viewed as baran desert land, and
often refered to by the Amahic word "Baraha" (meaning desert) to
emphasize it's lack of economic potential. Therefore, less economic
resource was devoted for it's development. Politically, it may have
been even easier then to secede from Ethiopia, given that the Somalis in
the region were much organized and united for that cause. Although
possible, obviousely, the current oil and gas development project in the
"Baraha" land, will further complicate any effort to secede from
Ethiopia
Salahdin Maow
Last modified: Thu Mar 25 13:19:00 MET