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16 December, 2007
Addis Ababa,12/16 - A US based company called Inter Global is to acquire oil exploration areas in Ethiopia. The exploration areas are found in the Afar Regional State, Tigrai and eastern part of the Amhara Regional State.
Last June, the company asked the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) to be given the exploration areas. Most of the exploration area is found in the Afar Rift where there is an active volcano and earthquakes are frequent.
Executives of Inter Global and senior officials of MME have been negotiating on the planned exploration project for the past several months.
Reliable sources told The Reporter that the exact location of the exploration area has been identified. Oil exploration activities have never been undertaken in the stated areas previously.
"The area has a complex geological formation. And it is unexplored," the sources said.
Officials of MME and Inter Global recently finalized negotiations. According to sources, MME would submit the petroleum exploration license to the Council of Ministers for endorsement in the coming two weeks. Once the council approves the exploration license, MME and Inter Global would sign the agreement. "If everything goes according to schedule, the agreement will be signed after a month," the sources added.
Inter Global is engaged in petroleum exploration project in Jordan. It would be the second US company to engaged in oil exploration activity in Ethiopia. Another US company, Afar Exploration, which signed an agreement with MME two years ago, is conducting geological surveys in the Afar Regional State.
Presently, five foreign companies are engaged in oil exploration activities in Ethiopia.