Ethiopia, Djibouti to be Linked by 767km Gas Pipeline

(Addis Abeba, February 15, 2019) Ethiopia and Djibouti signed today an agreement in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa to embark on construction of an oil pipe project between the two countries.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia disclosed that Samuel Hurcato (Ethiopia’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum) and Yonis Guedi (Minister of Energy in Charge of Natural Resources of Djibouti) represented the two countries to sign the agreement.

And the construction is expected to commence during this Ethiopian fiscal year and will take two years before the project is completed, according to Ethiopia’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum.

The Pipe-line will be between the production site in Kalubna Hilala, the Ogaden basin, the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia in the South Eastern part of the country, and the port of Djibouti through which it will be exported to the world market. It will cover a distance of 700 kilometers; of which only 67 kilometers will be in Djibouti – all the way to the port.

How useful is the project for Ethiopia? Ethiopia sees is an important project to help export natural gas. And Djibouti is also believed to be mutual beneficiary in some form.

“The construction of the pipeline would help to further ensure the mutual benefits of the peoples of the two sisterly countries,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia cited Samuel Hurcato (Dr.) as saying.

According to a report by government affiliated FBC, Poly-GCL Petroleum Investments, a Chinese firm, has a deal with the government of Ethiopia for the construction of the pipeline. The firm was also involved in the exploration of petroleum development and has singed agreement for the extraction of natural gas with the government of Ethiopia in 2013.

Ethiopia eyes both better foreign currency earning and employment creation when the project to supply natural gas to export market is completed.

Last year, United Arab Emirates unveiled a project to construct oil pipeline between from Assab to Addis Ababa.