Djibouti and Egypt hold gas cooperation talks

Djibouti's energy minister Yonis Guedi wants closer ties with Egypt to leverage Egyptian expertise in building up Djibout's nascent oil and gas industry, Egypt's ministry of petroleum and minerals said August 29.

Guedi met his Egyptian counterpart Tarek Al-Mulla in Djibouti to explore Egyptian participation in domestic petroleum projects, technical support, pipeline management, capacity building and personnel training.

Following discussions, Egypt said Guedi expressed "eagerness" to collaborate in coming months. Situated in the Horn of Africa to the north of Ethiopia, Djibouti has a population of just 1mn. In 2019, national energy consumption amounted to 8.87mn Btu/capita , according to the Energy Information Administration.

That year,  Ethiopia and Djibouti struck a deal contemplating a new 767-km gas pipeline that would transport Ethiopian gas to an LNG export terminal to be built in Djibouti, opening access to global markets. The pipeline was expected to enter service in 2020, but the $1.5bn project has struggled to get off the ground. Once launched, the pipeline would transport gas from Ethiopia's Calub and Hilala projects, both operated by China's POLY-GLC Petroleum Investments, with both onshore gas fields active since 2013, according to Reuters.