Saturday, 16 August 2008
Kaleyesus Bekele
The Malaysian oil and gas giant, Petroans, is to hire a company known as Sino Africa which would undertake seismic survey and drilling exploration wells in the Ogaden and Gambella basins in the eastern and western parts of Ethiopia.
Reliable sources told The Reporter that executives of Petronas and Sino Africa are negotiating on the matter. Sino Africa is owned by the Ethiopian businessman Tewodros Ashenafi. Tewodros owns South West Development and South West Energy “The two companies (Sino Africa and Petronas) have agreed on generals terms. But they have not yet finalized the deal,” sources close to the negotiation said.
Petronas, one of the top ten oil companies in the global oil industry, took the Gambella block in 2003 measuring 15,356 sq. km near the Sudanese border. In 2005 the company acquired the Genale, Callafo, and Wel-Warder blocks in the Ogaden with a total area of 93,000 sq.km. In 2004 Petronas contracted the Chinese company Zhonyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB) for seismic and drilling work in 2005. South West Energy acquired a block in Degehabur zone in the Ogaden basin. ZPEB has been undertaking seismic survey and drilling for Petronas and South West.
ZPEB pulled out of Ethiopia after the Abole massacre committed in April 2007 by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in which 65 Ethiopian and nine Chinese workers were killed in the Abole exploration site in the Degehabur zone. Following the attack, the Ethiopian national defense forces have destroyed the ONLF military wing. However, companies were reluctant to work there for sometime.
ZPEB is a state-owned enterprise under China Petro-Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), which mainly engages in oil and gas exploration, exploitation, petroleum engineering and technical services. Established in 1992 in Puyang, Henan ZPEB provides basic geological services such as conducting seismic survey, collecting, interpreting, and analyzing petroleum data and drilling exploration and production wells. The company owns and operates over 120 electrical and mechanical drilling rigs.
Peteronas has been looking for a company which undertakes seismic and drilling work.
Having seen the potential market, South West established a sister company, Sino Africa. The company has acquired drilling rigs and other machineries required for oil exploration.
