Petroleum / Mining in Kenya
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BOTSWANA, 2017/05/04
Ghana and Nigeria are the first countries to respond to reports of European companies exploiting weak fuel standards in Africa. Stricter limits on the sulfur content of diesel will come into force on July 1.
Governments in West Africa are taking action to stop the import of fuel with dangerously high levels of sulfur and other toxins. Much of the so-called "dirty diesel" originates in Europe, according to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, last year.
The report exposed what Public Eye calls the "illegitimate business" of European oil companies and commodities traders selling low quality fuel to Africa. While European standards prohibit the use of diesel with a sulfur content higher than 10 parts per million (ppm), diesel with as much as 3,000 ppm is regularly exported to Africa.
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KENYA, 2016/05/13
Uganda is to route its oil exports through Tanzania next a statement found the country was a cheaper and additional fasten option than its other east African neighbour Kenya.
Uganda is to use Tanga, a seaport city about 200km north of Dar es Salaam, to export its crude oil, rather than Lamu in Kenya.
The announcement was made last month at the East African Community (EAC) summit held just outside Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
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BOTSWANA, 2016/05/11
Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”
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UNITED STATES, 2016/01/10
The U.S. government said late on Tuesday said that it would help Kenya finance an significant oil pipeline project.
Speaking to the press next a conference with Kenyan Energy Cabinet Secretary Alfred Keter, U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec said that the U.S. would help Kenya find $18 billion for the construction of an oil pipeline from Lamu at the Kenyan coast to the oil fields in the north of the country.
“Kenya needs $18 billion worth of financing, [for the construction of the pipeline] so one of the questions we are discussing is how we can work together with the private sector and governments to raise that sum, to find ways to make certain that this financing become available,” Godec said.
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KENYA, 2014/11/20
The Mining ministry has permitted Wanjala Mining Company to transport the iron ore mined in Wundanyi constituency in 2012-13.
In a letter signed by Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, Wanjala company was told to transport only the mined iron ore.
Balala said no further extraction should be undertaken pending confirmation of boundaries and ownership by the National Land Commission.
The company was suspended from mining iron ore at Kishushe following a land dispute with Kishushe Cooperative Society last year.
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ANGOLA, 2014/09/14
Kenya may count on the technical support of the Angolan authorities in the exploration and development of the oil sector.
The outgoing ambassador of Kenya to Angola, Peter Gitau, said so Friday in Luanda.
The diplomat announced this to the press any minute at this time next the end of an audience the Angolan chief of National, José Eduardo dos Santos, granted to him.
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AUSTRALIA, 2014/03/18
AUSTRALIAN mining company base titanium expects to ship out of the country the second batch of minerals this weekend.
The company which is moving bulks of minerals from its Maumba mining site in Kwale to its Likoni jetty and storage facility is gearing to send out of the country an extra 25,000 tonnes of Ilmenite, similar to the initial shipment made last month.
Speaking to the Star on phone, the company's general manager - External Affairs and Development Joe Schwarz yesterday confirmed the minerals will be heading to China, the same market it exported the initial batch.
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UNITED KINGDOM, 2014/03/09
UK-based oil and gas firm, Afrem International will in April begin exploring for natural gas in the Tanga Region, bordering Kenya.
Afrem which acquired 74% interest in the Tanga Block, located offshore and onshore northeast Tanzania had not started exploration since announcing the acquisition of the block in 2011.
This has caused complaints from the residents of Mkinga and Tanga Districts who were relocated to pave way for the project to start. But the Tanga Regional Commissioner, Chiku Galawa said exploration was initially scheduled to start last month (January), but was delayed to give additional time for the firm to make adequate logistical arrangements.
"Please understand that the oil and gas exploration is a capital intensive undertaking that needs plenty of money, facilities and expertise, " she said last week.
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KENYA, 2013/10/02
Political scientists remain divided on the link between natural resources and armed conflict in Africa. One school of thought suggests that competition over the control of resources is itself a motivation for the development of armed insurgencies. Others – opponents of this greed-based theory – suggest that control over resources serves as a mechanism to correct economic and political inequalities. But all acknowledge on one thing: there is a positive relationship between the availability of lootable resources and armed insurrection, and this is particularly the case where populations have been marginalised.
Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta follows this pattern - the Delta experienced a protracted insurgency against the region’s hydrocarbon industry due to the negative impacts of oil exploration and the question of profit distribution. The conflict occurred in a context of ethnically-motivated violence and a burgeoning small arms trade, leading to the rapid militarisation of the region.
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KENYA, 2013/07/22
Rare earths have numerous applications in technology and manufacturing. They are used to make high power magnets for lightweight electric motors and MRI imaging. Their market is dominated by China. Kenya’s profile as a potential top rare earth minerals producer rose a rung higher next mineral explorer Cortec announced it had found deposits worth $62.4 billion.
Mrima Hill, in the coastal county of Kwale, has one of the top five rare earth deposits in the world. The area as well has niobium deposits estimated to be worth $35 billion.
