Petroleum / Mining in Central Africa Republic

  • Beyond Commodities: How African Multinationals Are Transforming

    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.”
  • Kimberley Process Meeting Fails to Redefine 'Blood Diamonds

    CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC, 2013/11/23 At a four-day conference in Johannesburg, Kimberley Process delegates called for stiffer penalties for those dealing in blood diamonds. However, they failed approaching up with a broader definition of the term. Delegates from 81 nations which belong to the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) met for four days in Johannesburg to discuss proposals designed to give them additional power to act against the sellers and and recipients of so-called 'blood diamonds.'
  • Global gas consumption to increase by 4% in 2013

    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%),