Ethiopia said Sunday the number of foreign companies showing interest in the Horn of Africa country's petroleum exploration and development has been increasing.

Abiy Hunegnaw, head of Petroleum Department of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, told journalists that the increase was due to shortage of fuel in the international market.

The regulation that Ethiopia issued in 2002 has also contributed for the rise in the number of foreign companies interested to work in Ethiopia, said Abiy.

Seven foreign companies, including Malaysia's Petronas and PEXCO, a Netherlands-based company, have been licensed and are working in Ethiopia in petroleum exploration and development activities, he said.

The companies have been paying some 100 million U.S. dollars annually for the land they are working on.

A total of 17 foreign companies have shown interest and took bid documents to take part in the development of Calub and Hilala gas in east Ethiopia's Somali state, he said.

The gas reserve in Calub, 1200 km east of Addis Ababa, is estimated at 2.7 trillion cubic feet and the reserve in Hilala, a locality found 75 km east of Calub, is estimated at 1.7 trillion cubic feet. The total area of the two gas fields is 285 square km of land.

Ethiopia is endowed with energy resources such as coal, oil and natural gas. Current natural gas reserves are estimated to be 24 million cubic meters.

Source: Xinhua