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The Malaysian petroleum company, Petronas, which is prospecting for oil resources in the Ogaden basin, in south-eastern Ethiopia, is to lay off its employees working in the company’s Ethiopian office, it was learnt. Some of its employees told The Reporter that the company has already started laying of some off the employees working in the logistics and radio communications department. The employees said that they were informed of the management’s decision to lay off most of the employees two months ago. There are about 40 Ethiopians working full time for the company. As Petronas outsources most of the services like transport, payroll management, cooking, security and other services, it does not hire many employees.

The company also subcontracts companies, which undertake drilling and seismic studies. Petronas  has drilled two wells in the Ogaden basin. The first one is in the Genale block that turned out dry. The second one is near the Hilala gas field in block 15. The testing result of the well (Hilala 5) is not yet known. However, after drilling the second well last September, the company has been hauling all its equipment and machineries out of Ogaden.

Petronas has hired Adika Tour and Travels to manage the transportation of machineries and equipment from the Ogaden to Djibouti and Addis Ababa. Reliable sources told The Reporter that the Malaysian professionals who left for Malaysia did not return to Ethiopia, adding that Petronas is sending its vehicles and machineries that it had imported duty free back to Malaysia.

Petronas has been exploring the Ogaden basin since 2006. The company acquired an exploration area covering 93,000 sq.km. The company collected numerous seismic data in the Ogaden. “They did a remarkable job,” says an industry analyst. “They drilled two wells, though the result of the second one is yet to be determined,” the analyst said.

Petronas acquired the Gambela concession in 2003. The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) granted 16,000 sq.km of land in the Gambela sedimentary basin near the Sudanese border. The company drilled two exploration wells in Jigaw and Jacaranda locality and both turned out dry. The company relinquished the Gambela concession in 2009. In 2007, Petronas also signed an agreement with MME to develop the Calub and Hilala gas fields.

The employees working in the company’s Ethiopian office fear that the company was pulling out of Ethiopia by abandoning all the exploration projects. The Minster of MME, Alemayehu Tegenu, said that that was not the case. Alemayehu said the company wanted to evaluate the results of the drillings.
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Source: Reporter