Ethiopia 'still on agenda'

By Upstream staff

Malaysia's Petronas and China's Sinopec remain in talks to resume oil and gas exploration in Ethiopia's Ogaden region, where rebels killed Chinese workers in April.

Exploration in the remote area halted after separatist rebels killed 74 people, including nine Chinese employees of Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB), part of Sinopec.

"We hope the two sides will reach an agreement and resume exploration work in the Ogaden because the situation has changed and there is no security threat now," Sinknesh Ejigu, Ethiopia's state minister for mines and energy, told Reuters.

ZPEB exploration equipment was sitting idle at the site of the 24 April guerrilla attack near Degabur, 630 kilometres east of the capital Addis Ababa, she said.