Ethiopia would spend US$1.4bn to build a petroleum pipeline from the Port of Djibouti to a storage facility in order to reduce the cost of transportation in the country
According to the government of Ethiopia, the 550 km of pipeline would carry oil directly from the vessels at the port to a storage facility in Awash. The trucks would then distribute fuel from Awash to the rest of the country including Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) confirmed that the proposal had been submitted and they would look into it before discussing it further with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Ministry of Transport (MoT).
Demelash Alamaw, assistant CEO at Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise, said, “In 2013 Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise imported 2.6mn tonnes of fuel. In 2014 it has plans to import 2.9mn tonnes.”
The Djibouti government noted that the current port infrastructure is not big enough to meet Ethiopia’s long-term needs. Currently, the demand for refined fuels in Ethiopia is growing at 10 per cent per year.
