Ethiopia welcomes Russian oil, gas companies

February 13, 2008 (MOSCOW) -– Ethiopian Trade and Industry Minister Girma Birru said Wednesday that the Ethiopian government welcomed Russian oil and gas companies’ plans to develop deposits in Ethiopia.

The visiting minister was speaking following a meeting of a Russian-Ethiopian government commission.

Birru said that, in particular, Russian oil major Lukoil was seeking to develop oil and gas fields in the country.

In the eighties the Soviet Petroleum Exploration Expedition (SPEE) drilled nine deep gaz wells from 1982 to 1993 in the region of Calub.

The Calub gas reserves are estimated at 2.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) while the Hilala gas reserves are estimated at 1.3 TCF. Ethiopia also plans to lay two pipelines – 80 km from Hilala to Calub and 700 km from Calub to Dire Dawa.

Different countries, China, India, Malaysia and the British White Nile company showed interest in Ethiopia’s oil exploration however the political instability particularly in Ogaden which is believed to contain huge amounts of oil reserves hinder the economic exploitation of oil resources.

Also, the Gambella basin is one of the five sedimentary basins found in Ethiopia, which are expected to be oil prospective.

(ST)