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Eritrea oil industry is a key element in the country's economy. There is considerable deposit of oil and natural gas along the Red Sea Coast. This resource can be recovered commercially. A large number of foreign companies have been working in Eritrea on the extraction and marketing of oil and natural gas. Shell, Exxon, Mobil and Total are some of those.
History of Oil Extraction in Eritrea
Year Activity
1921 - A well was dug on the Du el Issar Islands
1940 - 11 wells were drilled on the Dahlac Islands
1962 - Mobil started its operation in the Red Sea.
1965 - 1 well drilled in Dhunishub
1977 - 1 well was drilled by Shell
1984 - A survey was conducted by the Ministry of Mines and energy, Ethiopia in the
Sudan border
1988 - Acreage acquired by the IPC along with Amoco
1990 - The data collected was evaluated by World Bank Red Sea Hydrocarbon Project
1995 - Contract was signed by Anadarko
Assab Refinery in Eritrea
Assab Refinery was an important refinery owned by the Eritrean government. It had a refining and distillation capacity of 875 kilo tonnes a year. The produce from this Eritrea oil refinery was used in Eritrea as well as in the Ethiopian market. It was closed in 1997 due to unbearably high operating cost.
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