Petroleum / Mining in Gabon
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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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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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GABON, 2014/07/12
Despite a slight change-up in the inventory of concessionaries awarded offshore blocks in an October 2013 tender round, the subsequent issuance of 13 licenses to 11 companies should nevertheless drive additional new exploration than Gabon has seen in years.
A total of 13 licences were awarded to 11 companies which has encouraged hope for increased production. Hydrocarbons represent 60% of budget revenue and 80% of export receipts, according to KPMG, but the US Energy Data Government maintains that production levels have declined steadily, from a peak of 370,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 1997 to roughly 245,000 bpd in 2012, as existing fields mature.
Oil minister Etienne Ngoubou told Reuters that the licensing of 13 new blocks could double annual oil production to 500,000 bpd once the fields are developed. This would provide a crucial source of revenue to build up Gabon’s strategic financial services and fund its economic and social development programmes. The oil ministry’s enthusiasm about next production is certainly warranted, particularly given the success seen elsewhere in similar blocks along the Gulf of Guinea, but the complicated nature of deep- and ultra-deep-water drilling will require considerable investment and time to develop any potential resources.
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BOTSWANA, 2012/12/25
World gas request is projected to reach 3,460.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, constituting an increase of 3.6% from 3,341.4 bcm in 2012. North America's gas consumption is estimate to reach 890.3 bcm in 2013, equivalent to 25.7% of world request. It would be followed by Asia & Australia with 720.8 bcm (20.8%), Eastern Europe & the Commonwealth of Independent States with 587.4 bcm (17%), Western Europe with 533 bcm (15.4%), the Middle East with 445.7 bcm (12.9%),
