Driest Conditions in 40 Years Seen Continuing in Horn of Africa
A weather phenomenon over the Indian Ocean is exacerbating the driest conditions in more than four decades in the Horn of Africa that may continue for the rest of the Continue Reading
Horn of Africa ravaged by worst drought in four decades
When the last of his 250 goats died, pastoralist Abdullahi Abdi Wali knew it was time to flee what he calls the “worst drought” in his 99 years of life. Continue Reading
Egypt, Ethiopia Tensions Escalate as Nile Dam Talks Falter
Tensions are rising between Egypt and Ethiopia as Addis Ababa moves closer to diverting water to a massive hydroelectric project on the Nile that has been a center of a decade-long dispute Continue Reading
New Generation of Desert Locusts Breeding in Horn of Africa
Desert locusts are breeding afresh in Ethiopia and Somalia and new swarms will form by mid-December and are likely to move southwards toward Kenya. “Although countries are better prepared compared to Continue Reading
Africa’s largest dam powers dreams of prosperity in Ethiopia — and fears of hunger in Egypt
A colossal dam is near completion on Ethiopia’s stretch of the Nile, a project so large that it promises to set the country on a path to industrialization that could Continue Reading
The African Union Needs to Resolve Ethiopia’s Dam Dispute
Argument U.S. diplomacy has failed. African diplomacy can’t afford to. Egypt and Sudan have threatened to withdraw from negotiations over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Continue Reading
Ethiopian Leader Reports Progress in Talks With Egypt, Sudan Over Nile Dam
Ethiopia’s prime minister said negotiations on Tuesday with Egypt and Sudan had paved the way for an agreement over the country’s hydroelectric dam on one of the Nile River’s tributaries, Continue Reading
Why Filling Ethiopia’s Mega-Dam Riles Nile Region:
Ethiopia has been at loggerheads with downstream neighbors Egypt and Sudan for years over a $4.8 billion mega-dam it’s building on the Nile River. Now the standoff is coming to Continue Reading
Ethiopia Dam Latest: Satellite Photos Show Reservoir Is Filling
Satellite images of Africa’s biggest hydropower project show a reservoir flooding with water from heavy rainfall in recent weeks, adding to tensions that risk spilling into open conflict. The photos Continue Reading
River Nile dam: Reservoir filling up, Ethiopia confirms
The dam’s construction, seen here in December 2019, began in 2011 A reservoir behind Ethiopia’s disputed Grand Renaissance dam on the River Nile has started filling with water – a Continue Reading
Nile Dam Talks Founder, Escalating Tension Between Africa Powers
African Union-brokered talks ended without an agreement on a disputed dam project on the Nile River’s main tributary, potentially ratcheting up tensions between two key U.S. allies on the continent. The Continue Reading
Tensions rise on the Nile over Africa’s largest dam
Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan are engaged in last-ditch talks to resolve a dispute over Addis Ababa’s construction of a giant dam on the river Nile that Cairo fears could lead Continue Reading
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to agree Nile dam deal in weeks
Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan will agree on a deal to fill the giant Blue Nile dam in two to three weeks, following mediation by the African Union to broker a Continue Reading
Ethiopia Dam News: Tussle With Egypt Over Nile River Falter
A last-ditch attempt to resolve a decade-long dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over a huge new hydropower dam on the Nile has failed, raising the stakes in what – for Continue Reading
Talks on $4.6 Billion Ethiopia Dam Poised to Restart
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on Sunday said talks would continue later this week to resolve their dispute over a Nile dam Ethiopia is constructing, even as Cairo accused Addis Ababa Continue Reading
Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan resume talks on Blue Nile dam
Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia on Tuesday resumed talks on the giant Blue Nile hydropower dam after the failure of a U.S-led mediation effort earlier this year, a Sudanese official said. Continue Reading
Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Latest
Ethiopia’s government vowed to continue work on a massive dam that’s stoked tensions with Egypt, even as the Horn of Africa nation contends with the growing spread of the coronavirus. Continue Reading
China Steps Up Pressure Over Ethiopia Hydro Power
China and the United Nations backed calls for Ethiopia to resume talks over its plan to begin filling a giant hydropower dam that is opposed by Egypt. Ethiopia wants to Continue Reading
U.S. says it will keep engaging Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan on Blue Nile dam
The United States will continue to work with Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan until they sign an accord on a giant Blue Nile hydropower dam, after failing to secure signatures from Continue Reading
UAE to build oil pipeline between Eritrea and Ethiopia
The United Arab Emirates will build an oil pipeline connecting Eritrea’s port city of Assab with Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian state-affiliated broadcaster said on Friday. Fana Broadcasting said Continue Reading
This Country Just Started Pumping Oil For The First Time Ever
Ethiopia began on Thursday its first-ever crude oil production under a test production scheme that will see initial production of 450 barrels of oil per day. Ethiopia, a rather large Continue Reading
Ethiopia to Start Extracting Natural Gas
Ethiopia is to start extracting the first ever natural gas deposit from Ethio-Somali Region as of tomorrow, The Reporter learnt. It is to be recalled that back in March, 2018, Continue Reading
Troubled Waters: Egypt and Ethiopia Wrangle Over Nile Dam
The world’s longest river, a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people, is also fast becoming a fault line. Ethiopia’s ambitious $4.2 billion hydroelectric dam project on the Nile River’s Continue Reading
Spotlight: Africa’s first electrified railway embraces full Chinese standards
Chinese train driver Liu Ji (R) and his Ethiopian colleague Geto wave hands before the start of the first passenger train of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Continue Reading
Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan: Governments Sign Agreement Over Dam
Leaders from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have signed an agreement designed to assuage Egyptian worries over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Egyptian Streets reported Dec. 29. Egypt Continue Reading
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan Sign Nile Dam Declaration
ENLARGE Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, right, next to his Sudanese counterpart Omar Bashir during a welcoming ceremony in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia took a step Monday to defuse tensions around Ethiopia’s construction of a massive dam on the Blue Nile, which has threatened to upset the geopolitical balance in the region over how to share water from the River Nile. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Halemariam Desalegn signed a declaration in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, pledging to better share the Nile’s waters, an Egyptian presidency official familiar with the matter said. Ethiopia has said the project is necessary to produce much-needed electricity, but the building of the dam has been controversial, with some scientists predicting it could disrupt the flow of the river into Egypt, where it provides much […]
On the River Nile, a Move to Avert a Conflict Over Water
Ethiopia’s plans to build Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Nile have sparked tensions with Egypt, which depends on the river to irrigate its arid land. But after years of tensions, an international agreement to share the Nile’s waters may be in sight. For thousands of years, Egyptians have depended on the waters of the Nile flowing out of the Ethiopian highlands and central Africa. It is the world’s longest river, passing through 11 countries, but without its waters the most downstream of those nations, Egypt, is a barren desert. So when, in 2011, Ethiopia began to build a giant hydroelectric dam across the river’s largest tributary, the Blue Nile, it looked like Egypt might carry out its long-standing threat to go to war to protect its lifeline. But last weekend, all appeared to change. Ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan agreed on the basis for a deal for […]
Egypt: Ethiopian Water Minister Hails Egypt Decision to Resume Dam Talks
Ethiopian Water and Energy Minister Alemayehu Tegenu hailed Egypt’s decision to resume the three-way dialogue with Sudan and Ethiopia on the Renaissance Dam last August. He also applauded the positive atmosphere which prevailed in the two meetings, which were held in Khartoum in August and Addis Ababa in September. In statements on the sidelines of the second round of the tripartite national committee of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, currently in session in Cairo, Tegenu said that the outcome of the two studies recommended by the international experts committee should be based on authenticated and variable information and data in order to come up with unbiased recommendations and results. The project has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government since May 2013, when images of the dam’s construction stirred public anxiety about the possible effect on Egypt’s water supply from the Nile River. However, Ethiopia maintains that Egypt’s […]
Surge in Investment Recharges India’s Sputtering Power Sector
ByKenan Machado A pedestrian walked past a pole hosting mangled electricity wires at a slum in New Delhi in 2009. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images MUMBAI—Investors are ploughing money into India’s energy sector again, betting that there are brighter days ahead as the country’s new government clears the path for power producers and distributors. India’s utilities and energy companies—which have struggled for years with high government restrictions and low returns—have attracted a total of $2.61 billion in investment so far this year, according to data from Dealogic. The last time the sector attracted so much money was before the global financial crisis, when $2.67 billion was invested over the same period in 2006. “People expect the economy to grow,” said Tan Cheng Guan, an executive vice president at Singapore utilities company Sembcorp Industries Ltd. which invested $204 million this year, buying stakes in two Indian power plants . India needs its power […]
India's Oil and Gas Jewel Needs Polish
Bloomberg News India’s government calls Oil & Natural Gas Corp. one of its "nine jewels," sparkling state-owned assets with brilliant potential. New Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to sell part of these family jewels before he does anything to help realize that potential. The government, which owns more than two-thirds of ONGC, may float 5% of the shares sometime after October, according to officials this week. Last week’s Indian budget has aggressive targets for revenue, including for selling stakes in state firms that, in theory, investors would love to get a hold of. India’s largest energy producer by output is such a company, boasting low costs and low debt. Yet this crown jewel needs polish due to the country’s oil and gas subsidy programs, which saddles ONGC with huge costs. The […]
India’s Oil and Gas Jewel Needs Polish
Bloomberg News India’s government calls Oil & Natural Gas Corp. one of its "nine jewels," sparkling state-owned assets with brilliant potential. New Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to sell part of these family jewels before he does anything to help realize that potential. The government, which owns more than two-thirds of ONGC, may float 5% of the shares sometime after October, according to officials this week. Last week’s Indian budget has aggressive targets for revenue, including for selling stakes in state firms that, in theory, investors would love to get a hold of. India’s largest energy producer by output is such a company, boasting low costs and low debt. Yet this crown jewel needs polish due to the country’s oil and gas subsidy programs, which saddles ONGC with huge costs. The […]
Ukraine Suspects Terrorism in Pipeline Explosion
A major natural gas pipeline exploded in central Ukraine on Tuesday, a day after the Russian energy behemoth Gazprom said that it was cutting off supplies to Ukraine in a dispute over pricing, and officials immediately labeled it a possible act of sabotage. Utility officials said that natural gas deliveries were not interrupted and that supplies to Ukrainian customers and other European countries were flowing through alternative pipes. The blast occurred in a sparsely populated area of the Poltava region, which lies between Kiev, the capital, and the embattled regions of eastern Ukraine where a civil war is effectively underway between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military. Video from the scene showed a huge plume of fire shooting hundreds of feet into the sky. The explosion destroyed a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which runs more than 1,800 miles from Russia’s Arctic north through Ukraine to the […]
Cold economics may limit big LNG ambitions
Natural gas enthusiasts from Texas to Capitol Hill insist the world is clamoring to buy American supplies of the fuel and the only major obstacle is the federal government. But there’s an even bigger economic reality standing in the way: The facilities to super-chill gas for transport cost billions to build, and even with permits, few will ever make it past the drawing board. "It’s very easy for us in this country to blame everything on our regulators, but economics are the biggest driver here," said Joe Fagan, a partner at Day Pitney who advises clients on liquefied natural gas import and export matters. "Even […]
Egypt plans dam-busting diplomatic offensive against Ethiopia
CAIRO, Feb. 27 (UPI) — Egypt may be in the throes of political turmoil, but the government has begun a diplomatic offensive aimed at stopping Ethiopia from building a huge hydroelectric dam on the Nile River that Cairo says will be a disaster for the Arab world’s most populous nation. The military-backed administration began its effort to internationalize the thorny issue in hopes of gathering support for its case against Ethiopia, where the Blue Nile rises in the northwestern highlands, after bilateral negotiations deadlocked in January. "The campaign initiated by Egypt … aims to persuade the international community to reject the dam’s construction because it may lead to further conflict and instability in the region of the Nile Basin," an Egyptian diplomatic source in Cairo told the Middle East’s al-Monitor website Feb.19. "More negotiations with Ethiopia only waste time and directly threaten Egypt’s water security," said the source, who […]
Battle of the Nile: Egypt, Ethiopia clash over mega-dam
Egypt and Ethiopia remain at loggerheads over Addis Ababa’s plan to build a $4.2 billion, 6,000-megawatt dam on a major tributary of the Nile River that Cairo says will greatly reduce the flow of water that is Egypt’s lifeline. Tension between the two African states rose sharply in January after Ethiopia rejected Egypt’s demand it suspend construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the 4,130-mile river, the world’s longest. Egypt has vowed to protect its "historical rights" to the Nile "at any cost" and says it could lose 20 percent of its water if the giant dam in northwestern Ethiopia, one of several hydroelectric projects planned by Addis Ababa, is completed. "It would be a disaster for Egypt," Mohamed Nasr Allam, a former Egyptian water minister, lamented to the Guardian daily of London in 2013. […]
Tullow announces dry hole onshore Ethiopia
Despite several recent successes in East Africa, Tullow Oil PLC has announced that its most recent Ethiopian wildcat is a duster. The company reached a total depth of 6,893 ft on its Tultule-1 exploration well in the South Omo block onshore Ethiopia. Tullow reported that the well will now be plugged and abandoned as a dry hole. The Tultule-1 was targeting oil-bearing sand drilled in its nearby Sabisa-1 well, but the formation was not encountered. The company did report however that gas shows were present. Results from both the Sabisa-1 and the Tultule-1 wells will now be analyzed to organize future exploration plans in the region. Tullow serves as operator of the Tultule-1 well with a 50% interest along with partners Africa Oil Corp. (30%) and Marathon Oil Corp. (20%). Tullow is now moving into Ethiopia’s Chew Bahir basin to drill the Shimela prospect, also in the South Omo […]
Tullow dry but unfazed by Ethiopian drilling efforts
British energy explorer Tullow Oil said Monday it encountered natural gas but no oil while drilling into a frontier area in Ethiopia. Tullow said its Tultule-1 wildcat well, a well positioned in a region not known previously to contain oil and natural gas reserves, will be categorized as a dry hole after drilling to a depth of 6,893 feet in the South Omo prospect. Tullow said it was targeting a region similar to another area in Ethiopia that had oil potential, though no oil was encountered during the drilling. The company said Monday it found some natural gas deposits, which it says proves the presence of a hydrocarbon source in the region. Tullow said it would move its drilling rig to a different section of the South Omo prospect “where new seismic [survey information] has delineated a number of exciting new prospects.” New wells […]
Ethiopia sees oil and gas exploration, but rebels are a threat
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Oct. 25 (UPI) — Amid East Africa’s oil and gas boom, the more adventurous oilmen are starting to gravitate toward the vast Ogaden desert region of Ethiopia, where drilling activity has been sparse since rebels attacked an exploration team in 2007, killing nine Chinese and 65 Ethiopians. Oilmen believe Ethiopia lies on the same oil-bearing strata as the massive discovery in Kenya by British-based Tullow Oil in early 2012. Initial estimates are that Ethiopia has oil reserves of around 2.7 billion barrels. That’s a modest enough total in global terms, but it’s a potential bonanza for an impoverished state like Ethiopia, which has been land-locked since Eritrea broke away to form an independent state on the Red Sea in 1991 after a 30-year separatist war. The Horn of Africa country has not produced any oil in commercial quantities since its first oil seep was reported in […]