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On October 2 (local time), at Calub Camp in the Somali Region of Ethiopia – located in the Ogaden Basin on the East African continent – the sky was clear and colorful flags fluttered. Witnessed by officials including Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh, Somali Region Governor Mustafa Mohammed Omar, Minister of Mines Habtamu Tegegn, Sun Mingxi (Chargé d'Affaires ad Interim of the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia), and Zhu Gongshan (Chairman of GCL Group), GCL Group's 200,000-cubic-meter skid-mounted liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Ethiopia was officially commissioned, serving as a tribute to China-Africa energy cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the 55th anniversary of China-Ethiopia diplomatic relations.

On the same day, large-scale adjacent projects – including the Phase II of GCL's skid-mounted LNG liquefaction project, natural gas power generation, and oil refining – also broke ground simultaneously. This marks a crucial step for GCL to enter overseas markets and help Ethiopia optimize its energy structure and advance independent energy supply, while injecting strong impetus into in-depth China-Africa energy industry cooperation under the BRI framework.

At the project site, the boundless Ogaden Basin features complex terrain with stretches of sand and gravel. GCL's Phase I 200,000-cubic-meter skid-mounted LNG terminal (part of its Ethiopia oil and gas project) stands majestically, with equipment humming. Workers operate intensely yet orderly, and dozens of LNG tank containers – fully ready for departure – line up in a neat formation.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed extended sincere congratulations to federal and Somali Region government officials at all levels, community and tribal elders, Zhu Gongshan, and all project team members. He noted that GCL's Ethiopia natural gas project is another major national project following the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Dangote Fertilizer Project. As the first oil and gas production in Ethiopia's modern history, it will bring enormous benefits to the Ethiopian people in areas like national food security, energy security, transportation, and the chemical industry. In his speech, Abiy specifically cited post-WWII China (after its victory) as a successful example, describing its extraordinary journey of overcoming numerous challenges, achieving national prosperity, and completing many super projects amid widespread ruins. He emphasized this path offers profound lessons for Ethiopia, and appealed to all levels of government and the nation to jointly support and protect the construction of GCL's Ethiopia natural gas industry chain, accelerate the completion and benefits of Phase II and subsequent projects, and honor the Ethiopian government's sincere commitment to GCL Group.

Minister Habtamu Tegegn fully affirmed GCL's professionalism and pragmatism demonstrated during the project's full-cycle construction. He stated the project not only sets a unique benchmark for the sustainable and independent development of Ethiopia's energy industry, but also serves as a vivid example of win-win cooperation for the China-Africa Community with a Shared Future in the energy sector.

In his speech, Zhu Gongshan said: "Today, GCL employees have extracted the first batch of natural gas for the Ethiopian people in this vast Gobi where not a single blade of grass grows, erecting an immortal monument to China-Ethiopia friendship and strategic mutual trust." As a BRI flagship energy project in Africa, its successful commissioning marks Ethiopia's historic leap from "relying on imports" to "independent development" in its pursuit of national energy autonomy. Despite facing multiple challenges – such as global economic fluctuations, geopolitical shifts, and the COVID-19 pandemic – GCL has remained committed to boosting Ethiopia's economic development and improving its people's livelihoods through close collaboration with Ethiopia, overcoming difficulties and achieving substantive project breakthroughs. Taking this commissioning as a new starting point, GCL will steadfastly advance the construction of the Phase II LNG plant and the Gode Oil Refining Project, helping Ethiopia build a complete oil and gas industry chain integrating exploration, extraction, pipeline transportation, liquefaction, trade, and application. This will create a national landmark project on par with the completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the opening of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, laying a solid foundation for Ethiopia to build an independent, autonomous, and sustainable modern energy industry system, and continuously injecting strong GCL momentum into local economic take-off and livelihood improvement.

Zhu Gongshan added that GCL will continue to leverage its strengths in innovative technologies and R&D teams to deepen engagement in emerging fields: natural gas development and application, oil refining, photovoltaic manufacturing and power generation, digital energy, and AI intelligence. With the future implementation of the Phase II LNG plant and the Gode Oil Refining Project, Ethiopia will be empowered to gradually form a complete oil and gas industry chain, laying the groundwork for a modern industrial system. Through the "oil-to-gas" strategy, GCL will take the lead in kickstarting Ethiopia's ceramic industry, creating a demonstration project for industrial energy transition, and providing stable energy support for Ethiopia's fertilizer industry and urban transportation. Based on this, relying on the "gas-electricity-computing" integration model, GCL will help build a national-level modern integrated energy industrial demonstration base, supporting Ethiopia in further achieving energy independence and green growth.

Under the Ethiopian government's strategy that "energy independence is the foundation, industrial development is the path, and improving people's livelihoods is the goal," the project broke ground on July 17, 2024. Adopting modular skid-mounted technology, it significantly shortens the construction period and enables efficient low-temperature liquefaction of the Ogaden Basin's abundant natural gas resources. The first phase can process 200,000 cubic meters of natural gas daily and produce 50,000 tons of LNG annually, supplying Ethiopian industrial parks and end-users. A second-phase production line will be built later for export to the international market.