Djibouti signs new geothermal deal with Sinopec

President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh’s government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) aimed at relaunching exploration of the country’s geothermal energy potential. Speaking at the first UK-Djibouti Trade and Investment Forum in London on 8 May, ministers from Djibouti said that, after four-and-a-half years in financial limbo, the government had secured the means to proceed with development. Sinopec and the government first signed a geothermal resource co-operation framework agreement in Beijing in July 2012. Economy and finance minister Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh told the forum that Sinopec had agreed to develop, on a joint venture basis, two “high-potentiality” sites at Obock.