The Ogaden basin is the
area of Ethiopia's largest condensed gas
deposit, namely the Calub and Hilala gas fields.
Calub
gas field is located in the region some 24-Km
west of Shilabo town.
According to various world energy
reports, Calub stores over 76 billion cubic
meter natural gas and related non-renewable
minerals, that can be exploited for both local
and international markets.
Shilabo town is about 330 kms distance
from the port town of Hobyo – South Mudug.
Presently,
Hunt Oil an international Oil Company has
concession for petroleum exploration in
Ethiopia, although an increasing number of
countries are involved in the exploration and
survey of petroleum prospects.
Also in the Ogaden Basin, Hunt Oil
Company acquired the rights to the Genale River
concession, which borders Somalia and Kenya
The
Calub Natural Gas Project, a joint
public-private enterprise for which financing
has been approved for $130.8 million in which
$74.3 million comes form the
International Development Association (IDA),
with co-financing from African Development Bank
($27 million) and the Netherlands ($4 million).
http://www.seen.org/db/Dispatch?action-Project
Widget:28-detail=1
The revenues form
the Gas project will be controlled by the
Ethiopian government with no benefits foreseen
for the social development of the people of
Ogaden. It
is well documented that the Ethiopian government
has not invested in providing major public
services (hospitals, schools and university) in
the Ogaden region.
People in this region don’t even have
access to acquire licenses for commerce.
The
main problem faced by Ethiopia in realizing the
commercialization of this project is to find the
most viable route to construct a pipeline toward
several seaports for export purposes.
Ethiopia’s
intention to deploy troops to our country is to
seize control of the port towns of Somalia,
the closest to the gas field being Hobyo. This
is also one of the reasons why the
Ethiopian-backed Salebaan clan from Cadaado
land-locked region of Galgaduud were fighting to
take control of Hobyo port, one of the oldest
ports in East Africa.
The port is now in the hands of Sa’ad
clan the natives of the town.
The
military and arm supply relationship between Mr.
Yusuf, Ethiopia and Yemen is connected to the
Hunt Oil’s common interest in the 3 countries.
Hunt Oil’s has currently acquired
rights to explore the Marib Al Jawf gas fields
in Yemen.
The
Hunt Oil Co. is one of the most influential
companies in the US.
Mr. Ray Lee Hunt, the owner of this
company has an estimated net worth of $2.3
billion and he ranked No. 92 on the 2004
“Forbes 400 Richest Americans” list. He
recently made contribution to Bush’s campaign
and he served as his Foreign Intelligence
Advisory Board in 2001.
Mr. Hunt also serves as board member of
Halliburton, the world's largest providers of
products and services to the entire oil and gas
industries.
Moreover, on November 2003, President
Bush nominated Hunt Oil Co. executive Jim
Oberwetter as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
http://www.saudi-american-forum.org/Newsletters/SAF
_Item_Of_Interest_2003_11_18.htm
It
is evident that a US intelligence team will back
Ethiopian troops when they invade Somalia in
order to ensure the planned works of the Caluba
oil pipeline project toward Somali ports.
The
interest of Ethiopia is purely economic and has
nothing to do with IGAD’s so-called plan to
disarm the militia.
The fight for
the control of energy sources is the heart of
the present war against Islamic people.
It is up to the Somali people to
negotiate contracts and seek profit sharing from
the Ethiopia’s gas export revenues instead of
being occupied and assimilated into the greater
(Ethiopian) neo-colonialization policies.
Donnasomala@yahoo.com
