Africa > Petroleum / Mining

Petroleum / Mining in Africa

  • EGPC denies report it is negotiating to delay dollar repayments

    EGYPT, 2015/12/09 Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) denied on Tuesday that it was negotiating with banks to delay dollar payments owed to them next failing to receive its full dollar needs from the central bank in November. Egypt is facing a dollar shortage and mounting pressure to devalue the pound. Foreign reserves have tumbled from $36 billion in 2011 to $16.42 billion in November and the country has focused on directing its dollars to strategic commodities. An EGPC official who asked not to be named told Reuters before on Tuesday the company was in negotiations to postpone dollar instalments owed to banks next not being supplied its total dollar requirements by the central bank last month.
  • Brent oil price dives below critical $40 a barrel mark

    WORLD, 2015/12/09 Brent crude oil price dived below $40 per barrel mark on Tuesday with OPEC's decision to not declare an official quota last Friday along with the glut of world oil supply retaining a bearish sentiment in the market. This is the lowest price level for Brent crude in the last seven years since February 2009. The price of the world benchmark dived below the critical threshold of $40 per barrel mark at 1:44 p.m. GMT on Tuesday to reach as low as $39.90 a barrel before 2:00 p.m. GMT. The price recorded a 2.4 % daily decline, next it opened the day at $40.87 per barrel.
  • Botswana’s diamond dilemma

    BOTSWANA, 2015/12/03 The waste pile from Debswana’s Jwaneng diamond mine is visible for miles across southern Botswana’s wide, flat plains. Additional than a billion tonnes of dirt have been dug up there over additional than 30 years of excavations. It is the richest diamond mine in the world, and it has been central to Botswana’s economic evolution since independence. The neighbouring township of Jwaneng, with its modern hospital and well-staffed school, is a diamond town built by the mine and almost entirely dependent on it for its gain. This dynamic is a microcosm for the country as a whole, and stands in contrast to the poor development track records of other extractives-based economies across Africa. Presently the challenge is to capture additional price in country.
  • Iran Urges OPEC To Cut Output

    IRAN, 2015/12/02 Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has asked the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC) to reduce production by at least 1.3 million barrels per day (mbpd). Ahead of the upcoming OPEC conference, Zanganeh has written a letter to OPEC chief Abdallah Salem el-Badri, announcing that the cartel members should be committed to the ceiling level, which had been set at 30 mb/d, Mehdi Asali, an Iranian oil ministry official said, Mehr news agency reported Dec. 1.
  • World’s Second-Largest Diamond Found In Botswana

    BOTSWANA, 2015/11/26 A 1,111 carat “high quality diamond” has been discovered at a mine in Botswana, said to be the biggest find in additional than a century, according to the mine company, AFP reports. The gem, only second in size to the Cullinan diamond which was unearthered in South Africa in 1905, was mined by Lucara Diamond Corp. “The magnificent stone, which originated from the south lobe of Lucara’s Karowe Mine, is the world second major gem quality diamond ever recovered and major ever to be recovered through a modern processing facility,” the Stockholm listed company said a statement. Shares in Lucara shot up 34 % to 14.2 kronor in morning Thursday trading in Stockholm.
  • Puma Energy inaugurates fuel terminals in Mozambique

    SINGAPORE, 2015/11/22 Puma Energy inaugurated new bitumen and fuel terminals in Mozambique, increasing its storage capacity in the country to 275,500 cubic metres, the company said in a statement issued Tuesday. The new terminals in Matola, near Maputo, include 11 tanks that together added 115,000 cubic metres storage. The bitumen terminal is intended to help reduce Mozambique’s dependence on bitumen imports, whereas the fuel terminal was built to create a new supply line from the nations of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
  • Zambia: Nationalize the mines to protect jobs

    ZAMBIA, 2015/11/17 Nationalize the mines to protect jobs: this is the request by the Confederation of Unions of Zambia next the announcement by the Swiss Glencore firm that it will halt in extraction activities at one of the country’s major copper mines. “We wish to take this opportunity to earnestly appeal to adhere to our advice, failure to which the government should take over the running of the mines,” said Confederation of Trade Unions of Zambia president, in regard to the risk of job cuts at the Mopani mine.
  • Gold exports reach $3 billion per year

    SUDAN, 2015/11/11 Sudan is one of Africa’s major gold producers; and a vast resevoir of untapped resources provide further golden opportunities for investors in mining The secession of South Sudan has proven to be the catalyst Sudan needed to revitalize its economy, the country’s National Minister for Investment Osama Faisal Elsayed Ali states. Since 2011, the country has embarked on a bold strategy of diversification away from oil, and towards industries such as mining and agriculture. The gold industry, in particular, has boomed in recent years. It plays a very vital role in the country’s economy, generating additional than $3 billion in sales each year. “It was a good opportunity for investors because everybody was relying on the oil and all of a sudden the deficit was created because of the secession,” says Mr. Ali. “For additional than 50 years nobody was thinking of doing mining – people were always concentrating on oil, oil, oil. But instantly next the secession we started to produce gold and other minerals as well.”
  • An oilfield development in Saudi Arabia's vast al-Rub al-Khali desert.

    WORLD, 2015/11/01 Political turmoil in the Middle East and a sharp decline in oil prices highlights the "urgency" oil exporting nations should have in adjusting their government spending plans, according to the new regional outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF estimate increase in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP) region would be 2.5 % in 2015, down from increase of 2.7 % last year and down 0.5 % points from the fund's last predictions in May. The loss of increase momentum is largely down to the additional than 50 % decline in oil prices since June 2014 (again, a barrel of benchmark Brent crude traded at $114 a barrel, presently it costs around $48) and growing political turmoil in swathes of the region, caused by civil war and conflict.
  • Arco Group Plc and Nigeria Agip Oil Company, to explore peaceful settlement

    NIGERIA, 2015/10/31 A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers national has advised Arco Group Plc and Nigeria Agip Oil Company, to explore peaceful settlement of the gas plant maintenance arrangement dispute brought before it. The presiding judge, Lambo Akanbi, gave the advice at the resumed hearing of the case on Monday. Mr. Akanbi said he was surprised the parties still came to court despite his before counsel that they settle the matter out of court. “At the last adjourned date, I had advised the parties to go for settlement and again come back and withdraw the matter from the court,” Mr. Akanbi said. “But I am surprised that the two parties are in court today on the same matter. I still advise that both the plaintiff and the defendants should go back and settle the matter.”