Mobil looks for buyer for its LPG business in Ethiopia

Mobil is looking for a buyer for its LPG business, which it has run for 10 years, sources disclosed. With an average annual distribution of 4,000 tn, it covered 15 % of Ethiopia's consumption.
Mobil became the second company after Shell to pull out of the business. Shell disposed of its LPG business in March 2004 to Ghion Gas, after operating it for 20 years. Sources in Ghion Gas told that their company has been approached by Mobil to see if it wanted to add Mobil's LPG facility to its fold.

Currently, Mobil, Total, Wajag and Ghion Gas are distributing LPG to the Ethiopia market. Merific Iran Gas, established by two Iranian state owned companies and an Ethiopian private company two years ago built an LPG depot, capable of holding 1,200 tn, for a massive entry into the market; the depot lies idle following a dispute between the founders of the company.
Mobil sources blame lack of active interest from the management as prompting the decision to dispose of the LPG section and the company's inability to boost sales. Others attribute it to an American standards requirement that the cylinders used to hold LPG should serve for only 8 years. Mobil, reportedly, did not find it cost effective to replace the cylinders after just 10 years of service.

Ghion Gas is said to have asked Mobil to present a list of all the properties in its LPG business. Mobil has an LPG depot near the General Mercantile motorcycles showroom on Beyene Aba Sebseb Street on the way from Meskel Square to Gotera.
Until 1996, Total, Shell, Mobil and Agip used to sell LPG in Ethiopia. Mobil was not only the third to enter into the market but also to leave it. The Italian Agip sold its entire petroleum business to Shell and quit the local market.

When there was a shortage of LPG in Ethiopia following the border conflict with Eritrea, National Mining, Sheik Mohammed Al-Amoudi's company, imported and distributed 50,000 cylinders of LPG.
Its involvement proved to be a one-off show. The National Oil Company, which the Sheikco-founded with Abnet Gebremeskel and Tadesse Tilahun, has plans to distribute LPG using the cylinders of National Mining, a sister company. The company has allocated 20 mm Br to this. A 12 kg LPG currently sells for between 112 Br and 117 Br.