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At 9:00 a.m. local time in Ethiopia on October 16, Wang Dong, Executive President of GCL Group and President of GCL Africa Industrial Group, and Lin Rongsheng, Chairman of China Jurong Group, led their respective teams to visit the Ministry of Mines of Ethiopia. They paid a courtesy call on the newly appointed Minister of Mines, H.E. Alemtsehay Paulos, and held a working meeting. Afterwards, the two sides held a cooperation agreement signing ceremony.

Witnessed by H.E. Alemtsehay Paulos and other officials, the Ethiopia Branch of GCL Energy Investment Co., Ltd. and Jurong Group (Holdings) Co., Ltd. formally signed the “LNG Contracted Construction and Toll Processing Contract.” Fu Zhidong, Executive President of the Ethiopia Regional Liquefaction and Refining Business Division of GCL Africa Industrial Group, and Yi Min, Vice President of Jurong Group, signed on behalf of the two sides respectively.

H.E. Alemtsehay Paulos warmly welcomed Jurong Group’s participation in the development of GCL’s Ogaden Basin oil and gas project. She spoke highly of the important contributions made by GCL Group as a long-term trusted strategic partner of the Ethiopian government and the Ministry of Mines. She expressed the hope that both sides would take this signing as an opportunity to promptly launch the construction of the first phase (module) of LNG Phase II and strive for early commissioning and tangible results. She noted that Ethiopia has a vast territory and abundant resources, with broad development potential in oil and gas, minerals and other fields. She welcomed Chinese investors such as GCL and Jurong to expand the scope of cooperation and deepen the level of cooperation, and said that the Ministry of Mines will continue to provide all-round policy support and service guarantees.

Lin Rongsheng thanked the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines for its strong support for the project. He said that Jurong Group will leverage its professional strengths in natural gas liquefaction resource integration, full-cycle project management, and international storage, transportation and trade. It will work closely with GCL Group to efficiently advance the LNG liquefaction project and simultaneously improve supporting infrastructure, storage and transportation systems, and international trade corridors, helping Ethiopia accelerate the building of a localized and systematic natural gas industrial system and achieve win-win-win outcomes for the company, the host country and partners.

Wang Dong conveyed Chairman Zhu Gongshan’s sincere gratitude to the Ethiopian government for its long-term support for GCL’s oil and gas exploration and development, and briefed on GCL’s latest progress in oil and gas development, natural gas production capacity construction and market application of LNG in Ethiopia. He said that GCL has been deeply engaged in Ethiopia’s energy sector for many years. The Ogaden Basin natural gas project has achieved industrialized production of domestic natural gas and built Ethiopia’s first skid-mounted LNG liquefaction unit. The signing with Jurong Group will accelerate LNG engineering construction based on the Calub gas field and is a key measure for GCL to expand LNG production capacity and broaden domestic application markets and international export channels. The project will adhere to lawful and compliant development, boost local employment and improve livelihoods, and practice green and low-carbon principles. It will also use the project as a pivot to build an integrated industrial chain covering “natural gas extraction—liquefaction—storage and transportation—application,” helping Ethiopia build an autonomous, controllable, safe and efficient modern energy industrial system.

The implementation of this strategic cooperation is not only a key step for GCL Group to improve its energy strategic layout in East Africa, but also a landmark beginning for both sides to complement each other’s strengths, join forces to go global and deepen their presence in the African energy market. In the future, the two sides will leverage their respective strengths in oil and gas exploration and development, LNG production capacity construction, and storage, transportation and trade, accelerate high-quality project implementation and tangible results, continue to deepen practical cooperation in energy technology, equipment manufacturing, cross-border trade, green and low-carbon fields, and continuously expand energy market space in East Africa and beyond, striving to create a new model for China-Africa energy cooperation and support high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

Birhane Yadesa, Vice Minister of Mines of Ethiopia, and relevant staff from GCL Africa Industrial Group attended the above activities.