ADDIS ABABA, June 27 (Reuters) – Ethiopia will begin extracting crude oil on a test basis from reserves in the countryโs southeast this week, state-affiliated media and the prime ministerโs office said on Wednesday.
ย Fitsum Arega, chief of staff in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmedโs office, said on Twitter that Abiy had met with officials from Poly-GCL Petroleum Investment Limited to โofficially kick-start crude oil production test in Ogaden Regionโ.
โThe company has discovered that there is a prospect of commercial quantities of crude oil in the region,โ Fitsum wrote.
The firm is a joint venture of state-owned China POLY Group Corporation and Hong Kong-based Golden Concord Group.
The state-affiliated Fana media quoted Abiy as saying 450 barrels would be produced on Thursday on a trial basis.
Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle Editing by Duncan Miriri/Mark Heinrich
