It began with E5


http://www.addisfortune.com/Vol%209%20No%20443%20Archive/Vol%209%20No%20443%20Images/images/gas_station_01.gifhttp://www.addisfortune.com/Vol%209%20No%20443%20Archive/Vol%209%20No%20443%20Images/images/gas_station_02.gif


E-5 Fuel May Have More Blenders

Oct 2008
The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MoME) is contemplating inviting the five petroleum supplying companies currently operating in Ethiopia to build additional depots to blend benzene with ethanol in a bid to expand the supply of blended fuel across the country.

Presently, ethanol blended fuel is available only in Addis Abeba. The MoME, however, wants to boost the supply of the new fuel, tagged E-5, across the country and is considering involving the five companies - National Oil Company Plc (NOC), Shell Ethiopia Limited, Total Ethiopia S.C., Kobil Ethiopia and Yetebaberut Beherawi Petroleum (YBP) - in the business.

The ministry plans to double the current 64,000 metric tonnes of annual molasses production from the two sugar factories - Metehara and WonjiShoa- every year and include additional production from Fincha with their own expansion project including the yet to be constructed Tendaho to raise the annual ethanol production capacity to 143.2 million litres over a period of more than five years, during which the construction of a huge sugar factory - Tendaho - is expected to be finalized.

Fortune (http://www.addisfortune.com/Vol%209%20No%20443%20Archive/E-5%20Fuel%20May%20Have%20More%20Blenders.htm)




and then E10:




E10 petroleum coming in weeks

Jan 2011
By Hayal Alemayehu

The government is schedule to increase the proportion of ethanol being blended in benzene to 10 percent beginning March 7. For over a year now, the benzene that has been in use in Addis Ababa and its environs has been a blend of five percent ethanol and 95 percent benzene -commonly known as E5 in the oil market.

The Ministry of Energy and Waters has now notified fuel distributing companies in the country to get ready for E10, which is tentatively scheduled to hit the market on March 7, according to Ephrem Hasssan, Bio Fuel Development Coordination Directorate Director at the ministry.

The E10 will initially be distributed in Addis Ababa and its environs and may later make it nationwide if oil companies operating in the country overhaul their depot scattered across the country and build new ones before the year winds up.

NewsDire (http://www.newsdire.com/news/1569-e10-petroleum-coming-in-weeks.html)




E10 is presently the standard

a few hitches along the way in implementation:


Fuel shortage hits Addis as E10 makes a comeback

Jan 2012
Following the E10 fuel supply after being interrupted for three consecutive months, fuel shortage temporarily hit Addis on Tuesday and Wednesday. The fuel supply suddenly fell short as Oil Libya’s blending facility failed to operate for two days due to a mechanical electric failure.

Motorist had been queuing in long lines particularly at NOC’s stations as Total Ethiopia, the major oil distributor in the country, failed to distribute the blend as Oil Libya, which supplies the blend to Total Ethiopia, temporarily ceased operation because of the accident. While Nile Petroleum, which used to be the only oil company blending the E10 fuel in the country, is currently supplying the blend fuel to NOC, YBP, Kobil Ethiopia and the other oil retailers, Oil Libya is supplying the blend to Total Ethiopia.

And as Total Ethiopia constitutes the major share of the market; the fuel shortage has lingered for three days before Oil Libya’s blending facility resumed operation Thursday. On Thursday, Oil Libya’s blending plant resumed operation, thereby ending what might otherwise look like a lingering fuel shortage in the country.

The E10, after being supplied to the market for several months, has been interrupted for consecutive three months, with the stock of the ethanol the sugar factories in the country manufactured stopping suddenly.

Now that there is enough stock and more sugar factories, the supply of the blend might be sustained, according to authorities. Yet, industry observers doubt that the supply might be reserved after months as the ethanol produced by the sugar factories might not meet the rising demand.

Reporter (http://www.thereporterethiopia.com/News/fuel-shortage-hits-addis-as-e10-makes-a-comeback.html)

Blending Facilities


Completed:
OilLibya: in Dukem (news story link (http://nazret.com/blog/index.php/2011/03/17/ethiopia-oil-libya-depot-inaugurated))
Nile Petroleum: Suluta (news story link (http://www.addisfortune.com/Vol_10_No_567_Archive/Ministry%20to%20Blend%2025pc%20Fuel%20in%20Five%20Years.htm))
National Oil Company: Dukem



Yet to come:
Total: Dukem (news story link (http://www.addisfortune.com/Kassa%20Sons%20Awarded%20Totals%20Dukem%20Depot%20Construction.htm))

NOC Inaugurates new blending facility


http://i.imgur.com/UCiH3.jpg



March 2012

“We are completing all the necessary preparations to expand our services to neighboring Djibouti and South Sudan. This will allow NOC to become the first Ethiopian oil retailing company in history to become a transnational company. Not only that, we also plan to produce oil in the country,” said Tadesse Tilahun, CEO of NOC.

Capital (http://capitalethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=628:noc-inaugurates-new-blending-facility&catid=35:capital&Itemid=27)




March 2012

National Oil Company (NOC) of Ethiopia became the third ethanol blender with the inauguration of its blending plant and multi purpose depot built at Dukem town, 37Km south of Addis Abeba, on February 28, 2012. The plant and depot, which lay on a 12,000sqm land, incorporate three tanks with a total storage capacity of 3.2 million litres of regular benzene, diesel and ethanol, as well as a Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) filling and storage plant with a daily filling capacity of 2,000 cylinders and storage capacity of 100 metric tonnes. NOC intends to increase the filling capacity to 5,000 cylinders and the storage capacity to 500tns.

The project consumed 45 million Br and was completed in one year. The civil and electro-mechanical works were undertaken by Kassa & Sons General Construction and Berhan Mulat Special Contractor, respectively. Densil Pump, an Indian Company, supplied the pumps and the ethanol blending materials. Rango Advert did the signage works.

NOC will start operation with the E-10, which is benzene blended with 10pc ethanol, but the potential of the plant goes up to 25pc, according to Tadesse Tilahun, CEO of NOC.

Fortune (http://www.addisfortune.com/news_radar.htm)

They plan to "produce oil"?

They plan to "produce oil"?
I think they may mean LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas...like propane and butane; which is mixed after importing petrol. I maybe wrong though. I dont remember them going into exploration so am not sure if that's what they mean.

Nile Petroleum's blending facility (courtesy of Vildana):


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6722101513_d57b0855c2_b.jpg



from Vildana2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74561619@N02/) @flickr