A 2018 New Business Ethiopia report asked why Ethiopian authorities allowed companies registered in tax havens to participate in gas-production arrangements—an accountability question that sits at the intersection of energy policy, secrecy jurisdictions, and public revenue.
Horn readers know the pattern: promising hydrocarbon or mineral finds, opaque special-purpose vehicles, and debates over whether the state is capturing a fair share or merely facilitating elite-linked contracts. Gas in the Ogaden/Somali Region has long been discussed more than delivered at scale.
Rewritten here as a governance/business reference: follow the corporate domicile, the production-sharing terms, and who audits beneficial ownership—not the expired headline alone.
Sources: New Business Ethiopia, Extractive Industries Transparency context
