Addis Abeba ( Addis Standard) – Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that Ethiopia will soon begin supplying domestically produced gas to the market for the first time in the country’s history.
Speaking during the 42nd regular session of the House of Peoples’ Representatives, the Prime Minister said the government, following the 2018 political reform, signed agreements with private sector actors and brought in new, capable companies to develop the sector.
“Previous governments attempted to extract gas, but it is only now, for the first time, that Ethiopia is set to supply gas to the market,” the Prime Minister said. He added that the first phase of the gas production process has been completed and “will soon” be inaugurated, with the second phase also set to begin shortly.
“Ethiopia will soon begin marketing its gas products, demonstrating that we are not just resource holders but active participants,” Pm Abiy told lawmakers.
The announcement by PM Abiy on Ethiopia’s impending entry into gas production comes against the backdrop of long-running efforts centered in the Somali Regional State’s Ogaden Basin.
Chinese company Poly-GCL has been exploring petroleum and natural gas in the region since 2013, and in June 2018 launched trial crude oil production at the Hilala oil fields, a move then hailed as a milestone. In 2018, Prime Minister Abiy had announced the trial would produce 450 barrels of crude oil per day, but the plan did not materialize.
In March 2022, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum issued an ultimatum to Poly-GCL outlining unmet operational conditions. It subsequently terminated the company’s production sharing agreements (PPSAs) in September 2022, but the federal government reversed that decision in June 2024.
In August 2022, Ethiopia received its first gas reserves certificate confirming the presence of seven trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas in the Ogaden Basin, following a four-month verification study.
More recently, the Somali Regional State’s Bureau of Mines, Energy, and Petroleum confirmed a renewed engagement with Poly-GCL. A high-level meeting in July this year between the Bureau and the company’s representatives concluded with a mutual agreement to strengthen cooperation.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), however, criticized the meeting, accusing the government of advancing extraction efforts “in secret” while neglecting the unresolved political demands of the Somali people in the region.
Source: Addis Standard