Ethiopia will today start extracting crude oil from the country’s Somali dominated region, the government confirmed.
Poly GCL, Chinese owned company which engaged in oil and gas exploration in March this year discovered oil and Natural gas in Somali regional state.
According to the company, the amount of the Gas in the discovered deposits is estimated to be 8-6 trillion cubic feet.
Fitsum Arega, the chief of staff in the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the premier met with officials Poly-GCL company on the extraction of the crude oil.
According to Fitsum, Prime minister Ahmed allowed the company to officially kick-start crude oil production test in the region.
The company has discovered that there is a prospect of commercial quantities of crude oil in the region,” Fitsum wrote on his Twitter account.
Leaders from the Federal and Somali regional state will attend the inaugural ceremony of the production which takes place today.
Among the official schedule to attend today’s event are Meles Alemu, the country’s minister for Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas and delegates from the state.
Poly-GCL carried out exploration in the Culub and Hilal gas fields in Ogaden basin.
During the exploration of the oil and Gas in the region, several Chinese experts and Ethiopian soldiers were killed in 2007 when heavily armed fighters from Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) stormed the site.
Among those killed in the area, were nine Chinese workers, the governments of China and Ethiopia.
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