The oil pipeline construction project from Djibouti to Ethiopia will begin before the middle of 2017

The oil pipeline construction project from Djibouti to Ethiopia will begin before the middle of 2017, Capital learnt.

A week ago Brian Herlihy, CEO of Black Rhino Group, met with Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh and the recently appointed Dr Yacin Houssein Bouh, Minister of Energy, to talk more about completing the project.

Mohammed Idriss Farah, Ambassador of Djibouti, told Capital that the CEO and the President held discussions with the US Ambassador to Djibouti on Sunday June 26.

Black Rhino Group, a subsidiary of the US based Blackstone Group, plans to construct a 550km long line to transport refined diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from port access in Djibouti, Damerjog, to central Ethiopia.

According to the plan the line will reached at Awash, 250km east of Addis at Afar region.

In relation to the 39th Independence Day celebrated at Sheraton Addis on June 28 the Djibouti Ambassador told Capital that the project will begin before mid 2017. “It may take about two years to be finalized,” he added.

“The issue will be one of the focuses of the biannual Joint Ministerial Committee meeting held the third week of this month in Addis Ababa,” Mohammed Idriss Farah explained.

A week earlier the governments of Ethiopia and Kenya agreed to construct an oil pipeline under Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (Lapsset).

The Ethio-Kenya line will also transport oil to Ethiopia.

Ambassador Mohammed Idriss Farah said that the Ethio-Kenya deal will never affect the older plan between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

“Ethiopia needs more similar lines because the country and the population are very big,” he explained.

According to data, Ethiopia’s oil imports increase by 20 percent every year. Currently the country is transporting oil via trucks, which cost a lot of money.

According to Black Rhino feasibility study the project will consume USD 1.55 billion. Black Rhino has developed the Horn of Africa Pipeline Project in joint-venture with MOGS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bafokeng Holdings.

Another pipeline to transport LPG (natural gas) from Ethiopia to Djibouti will be constructed by Poly GCL, a Chinese energy firm that is working to develop natural gas at Kalub and Hilala of Ethiopia Somali region.

In a related development, Yacin Elmi Bouh, Ambassador Plenipotentiary and former Minister of Djibouti, is up for deputy chairperson candidacy of the African Union Commission in the upcoming election that will be held during the coming AU Summit.

On the Djibouti national day celebration held on Tuesday in Addis Ababa Yacin Elmi Bouh was campaigning for the new position.

He told Capital that he will work strongly for a united Africa.

Yacin Elmi Bouh, a Djiboutian, has been in top government leadership positions, such as the Minister of Economy, Finance and Planning in charge of Privatization.

The current Deputy Chairperson, Erastus Mwencha, a Kenyan, was elected by the AU Assembly in 2008; and then re-elected in July 2012 for a second term.

Four candidates including representatives from Cameroon, Somali and Ghana will compete for the deputy position during the AU general assembly that will be held in Kigali, Rwanda from July 17-18.

A commissioner or the deputy can serve only for two four year terms.