Oil companies evacuate their personnel from Ethio-Somali region
"This
is not an accurate information. Why would they evacuate their
employees? Things are moving as usual,” he told The Reporter. According
to Koang, it could be for a vacation that the Chinese came to Addis
Ababa.
Poly GCL has been engaged in the exploration and
development of oil and gas resources in the Ogaden basin since 2014. The
company is in the process to develop the Calub and Hilala gas fields.
The
company has discovered crude oil reserve in the Hilala locality and
began test production last June. It has also discovered additional gas
reserve in a locality called Dohar.
Another Chinese company, BGP Geoservices, which is contracted by Poly-GCL, has also evacuated its staff to Addis Ababa.
BGP
has transported its team of Chinese petroleum experts by a chartered
plane. BGP is a geophysical service company that collects, interprets
and process seismic data.
Sources told The Reporter that the
Poly GCL and BGP’s camps, which are highly guarded by the National
Defense Forces, were not attacked.
According to sources, the National Defences Forces have mobilized more troops to the project sites.
"There is no reported incident near the oil and gas projects but the companies took a precautious measure,” sources said.
"The
oil projects are far from Jigjiga where the security situation has
deteriorated. We hope that peace and security will be restored soon,”
they added.
However, another source told The Reporter that a field vehicle that belongs to Poly GCL has been taken away by local residents.
Poly
GCL Petroleum Investments is planning to develop the Calub and Hilala
gas fields which were discovered by an American company Tenneco in 1972.
The Chinese company is in the process to construct a gas export pipeline to the Port of Djibouti and a gas refinery plant at a cost of four billion dollars.
The pipeline line construction work
was scheduled to begin in September 2018. "Work will not commence unless
peace and security is restored,” sources said.
New Age, South
West Energy and Delonex Energy are the other companies engaged in oil
exploration projects in the Ogaden basin. The Reporter has learnt that
currently these companies do not have active personnel at the project
sites.
Oil companies evacuate their personnel from Ethio-Somali region
Alarmed by the political and security turmoil that occurred in the Ethio-Somali Regional State last week, oil companies engaged in oil exploration projects in the region have evacuated their staff to Addis Ababa, it was learnt. Following the secur