Ethiopia on Thursday started test production of the first barrel of crude oil, the first for the East African country, raising hopes of economic transformation for its estimated 100 million population.
The test oil production was undertaken by Chinese firm Poly-GCL Petroleum Group Holdings Limited (Poly-GCL).
Speaking during a ceremony to officially launch the test crude oil production in Ethiopia’s Somali regional state, Meles Alemu, Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas, said the production of crude oil heralds a success after 100 years of trying in vain to find and extract oil in the area.
He further said the production of crude oil would ensure the sustainability of Ethiopia’s economic transformation which foresees the country becoming an industrialized middle-income economy by 2025.
The Ethiopian government had back in April announced plans to generate 1 billion U.S. dollars annually from extraction of natural gas and crude oil deposits.
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