Work is under way towards Ethiopia's first commercial hydrocarbon production.
Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, Puyang, China, is mobilizing equipment from the port of Assab, Eritrea, to Calub gas/condensate field 1,200 km southeast of Addis Ababa near Shilabo in the Ogaden basin. The government let a $5.6 million contract to the Zhongyuan bureau last May to prepare eight of the field's 10 wells for production or injection.
Calub Gas Share Co., Addis Ababa, plans to install a refrigeration plant capable of extracting liquids from 50 MMcfd of gas initially. LPG, gasoline, kerosine, and diesel fuel are to be sold at the plant gate, with dry gas reinjected.
The government retained Parsons International Group of the U.K. to prepare bid documents for detailed design and construction of the processing plant.
Well preparation is to be concluded by late 1998, and sales are to start in late 1999 (OGJ, Mar. 24, 1997, p. 72). The Ethiopian Road Authority has begun repairing and upgrading a 570 km road between Dire Dawa and Shilabo in support of the project.
The government plans a tender soon to privatize its 95% stake in Calub Gas Share Co.
Copyright 1997 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
