Malaysian Petronas wins Ethiopia’s gas field tender
Aug 5, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — The Malaysian oil firm Petronashas won Ethiopia’s ambitious Calub and Hilala gasfield development tender, it was learned on Saturday.
After evaluating the proposal presented by Petronas, the Ministry of Mines and Energy selected it, said a government official, who declined to be named.
The official said the ministry and Petronas will sign a development agreement to enable the firm to develop the gasfields that lie on 285 sq km of land. The gas reserve was discovered in 1972 by an American oil company, Tennaco. There are eight gas production wells in Calub.
Petronas, Gail India Ltd and Dinder of Sudan participated in the tender put up by the ministry. Last March, the ministry invited companies to present expressions of interest on developingthe natural gas reserve in the Ogaden basin, found in Calub and Hilala areas, some 1,200 southeast of Addis Ababa.
Nineteen international and local companies submitted letters ofinterest to the ministry. After evaluating the profiles of the companies, the ministry short-listed seven companies. Of the sevencompanies, only three submitted their proposals within the deadline scheduled for July 10.
Petronas has a plan to build a gas refinery plant at Calub and to construct a gas pipeline all the way to Djibouti that would enable it to export petroleum products.
Studies indicate that LPG, petrol, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene can be produced from the gas reserve. Petronas proposed to invest up to 1.9 billion U.S. dollars. The company also plans to drill exploration wells in the vicinity of Calub and Hilala.
(Xinhua)