Central Africa








Energy Markets

Oil & Gas

Oil & Gas

Prospect of lower oil costs puts pressure on Angola, finance minister states

The possibility of lower oil rates puts lots of pressure on Angola, the country's finance minister told Reuters on Friday, including that she expected to see rates average around $70 to $72 per barrel compared to $75 in 2024. The federal government of Africa's second-largest petroleum exporter will likewise continue to phase out fuel subsidies, Financing Minister Vera Daves de Sousa said in an interview on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual conferences in Washington. The number of steps we didn't decide yet, but our concept is to do it in actions, she said, verifying that aids...

Oil & Gas

Equatorial Guinea tells World Court Gabon's claim on islands is untenable

Equatorial Guinea asked judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday to decline Gabon's claim to several islands in possibly oilrich waters in the Gulf of Guinea. The African neighbours, both substantial oil manufacturers, have asked the United Nations' leading court to settle a disagreement centring on the small island of Mbanié, less than a kilometre (about 1,000 lawns) long, off the coast of Gabon. Gabon's position is factually and lawfully untenable, stated Equatorial Guinea's representative at the court, Domingo Mba Esono. The dispute has actually been going on because 1972, when Gabon's army drove Equatorial Guinea soldiers...

Oil & Gas

Gabon marks year because 'coup of freedom' with events, reform pledges

A year because a military coup in Gabon ended the Bongo dynasty's 56year guideline, the nation marked the anniversary in joyful state of mind today with celebrations and promises by the ruling junta to step up progress on reforms. The Gabonese mostly welcomed the military's ouster of president Ali Bongo, whose household's poor management of the central African nation's oil wealth had led to a stagnant economy and stranded a third of the population in hardship. Hundreds collected in the centre of the capital, Libreville, on Friday for main celebrations led by interim president General Brice Oligui Nguema to mark...

Oil & Gas

China CNPC's international oil, gas financial investment

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), Asia's biggest oil and gas producer, has over the past 3 years built a worldwide portfolio with possessions in 33 nations. The company's overseas production went beyond 100 million metric loads, or 2 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, for the first time in 2019 and has given that preserved that level, according to its Economics and Technology Research Study Institute. CNPC and its noted car PetroChina has given that 2002 invested an approximated $38.6 billion in upstream possessions outside China, versus Sinopec's $49.7 billion and CNOOC Ltd's $36. billion, according to consultancy Wood...

Oil & Gas Exploration

Glencore's ex-head of oil charged with bribery offenses by UK fraud agency

Glencore's former head of oil Alex Beard has actually been charged with bribery offenses relating to the Swiss commodity trader's operations in Africa, Britain's Serious Scams Office (SFO) stated on Thursday. Beard, 56, is charged with 2 conspiracies to make corrupt payments to government officials and authorities of state-owned oil business in Nigeria in between 2010 and 2014 and in Cameroon between 2007 and 2014, the SFO stated. He is among five ex-Glencore staff members charged with conspiracy to make corrupt payments and is the most high-profile commodity trader to have been charged in Britain for declared corruption. Beard joined...

Oil Refineries

Angola's new Cabinda refinery to start up later this year-CEO

Angola's new Cabinda crude oil refinery is on track to launch later this year before ramping up to full first phase production of 30,000 barrels a day by July next year, the plant's President Marcelo Hofke said on Thursday. With nearly two-thirds of the building completed, Cabinda is the most innovative of 3 new planned refineries, together with an Eni-supported plant in Luanda being upgraded, that Sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest oil manufacturer is leaning on to cut imported refined products for domestic use. The concept is to begin commissioning by the end of this year ... and we want to reach...

Oil & Gas

Chad prepares to enact a coup-hit area, cautious allies search

Chad will hold presidential elections on Monday, making it the first in a string of couphit states throughout Central and West Africa to utilize the tally box to try to emerge from years of military guideline. Opposition groups have already sobbed foul. The prospect extensively expected to win is Mahamat Idriss Deby - the guy who seized power the day rebels shot and eliminated his long-ruling father, Idriss Deby, in April 2021. However Chad's Western allies have actually mainly remained peaceful and kept watch - hoping, analysts state, that at the very least, the vote will deliver a reasonably stable...

Oil Exploration

Portugal's Galp says field off Namibia might include 10 bln barrels of oil

Portuguese oil company Galp Energia stated on Sunday it had concluded the very first phase of expedition in the Mopane field off the coast of Namibia and estimated it might have at least 10 billion barrels of oil. Galp stated it conducted screening operations at the Mopane-1X well in January and the Mopane-2X well in March. In both wells, which are 8 kilometres apart, it stated significant light oil columns were discovered in top quality tank sands. The Mopane field lies in the Orange Basin, along the coast of the southern African nation, where Shell and France's TotalEnergies have made...

Oil & Gas

US talks frequently with Congo's Gecamines on cobalt and copper, official says

The United States speaks regularly with the Democratic Republic of Congo's state miner Gecamines, a senior State Department authorities told , as Washington looks for to deepen relationships with key providers of cobalt and copper across the African continent. WHY IT is essential Chinese aggressive investment across Congo, Zambia and elsewhere in Africa - which holds huge supplies of minerals utilized to make electrical automobiles and other electronic devices - has for a long time raised concern in Washington. Jose Fernandez, the U.S. State Department's under secretary for economic development, energy, and the environment, said in an interview this week...

Oil & Gas

Five eliminated in fire at Perenco oil platform offshore Gabon

5 people were killed and one is missing out on after a fire on Wednesday at a Perenco oil platform off the coast of Gabon, the AngloFrench oil company stated in a declaration on Thursday. Following the incident which took place yesterday at the Perenco Simba field offshore Gabon, the fire has been snuffed out and the website has actually been safely secured, Perenco stated. We deeply are sorry for to validate that there have actually been five fatalities and a single person is still missing out on. The mishap happened on Wednesday afternoon at the Becuna platform throughout a...

Oil & Gas

Angola to maintain oil output at 1.1. million bpd through at least 2027

Angola is producing about 1.1. million barrels daily of crude, similar to its level before it exited the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Nations, and expects to maintain those volumes at least until 2027. Output at Africa's second-largest crude oil exporter has declined progressively given that striking a peak of 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2008. It aims to produce more natural gas to counter part of the oil decline. Our goal is at least to keep this level of production till 2027-2030, stated José Barroso, Angola's secretary of state for oil and gas. He said the rate...

Oil & Gas

Europe, Africa oil markets tighten, providing assistance to futures

Red Sea shipping hold-ups and OPEC+ supply cuts are tightening physical oil markets in Europe and Africa as well as the Brent crude market structure, loaning even more support to oil futures prices, according to traders, LSEG analysts and data. A sustained rise in crude costs would raise energy, transport and production costs and threaten to relax some of the recent falls in global inflation, just as significant reserve banks are expected to begin cutting rate of interest. On Thursday, the benchmark Brent crude futures market structure struck its most bullish given that October. The premium of the first-month contract...

Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels

Angola's Cabinda oil refinery to start up by April, Gemcorp CEO says

Angola's Cabinda oil refinery is set to start production by April, as it finishes its very first stage simply ahead of schedule but over spending plan, the CEO of Gemcorp Holdings Minimal, the job's greatest shareholder, told Reuters on Tuesday. The refinery will be commissioned in January-February, with its very first products of fuels reaching the regional market in March-April, Atanas Bostandjiev, founder and chief executive of Gemcorp, stated on the sidelines of the Financial Times Africa Summit. The company owns 90% of the refinery. The brand-new job, which will be Angola's 2nd oil refinery, will assist make sub-Saharan Africa's...

Climate Change

Countries need to report nature protection prepares to the UN. What does that suggest?

storyp1> BOGOTA, Oct 19 (Reuters) Almost 200 nations deal with a due date to report their nature conservation prepares to the United Nations ahead of a twoweek U.N. nature top dubbed COP16, beginning on Monday in the Colombian city of Cali. Here is what you require to understand: WHY ARE NATIONS MAKING NATURE PLEDGES? These pledges must set out how each nation plans to contribute to conference international nature targets agreed on at the last U.N. Biodiversity Summit, COP15, held in Montreal in 2022. The arrangement, called the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Structure, established four general objectives for 2050 and a...

Fossil Fuels

Equatorial Guinea informs World Court Gabon's claim on islands is untenable

Equatorial Guinea asked judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday to reject Gabon's claim to several islands in possibly oilrich waters in the Gulf of Guinea. The African neighbours, both substantial oil manufacturers, have asked the United Nations' top court to settle a dispute centring on the small island of Mbanié, less than a kilometre (about 1,000 yards) long, off the coast of Gabon. Gabon's position is factually and lawfully untenable, said Equatorial Guinea's agent at the court, Domingo Mba Esono. The dispute has been going on because 1972, when Gabon's army drove Equatorial Guinea soldiers from...

Mining

Mineral Resources

Mineral Resources

DR Congo army takes Kalembe town back from M23 rebels, spokesman states

Democratic Republic of Congo's army on Tuesday said it had taken back the eastern town of Kalembe a day after it was taken by M23 rebels. Kalembe, a town in Walikale area in militia-plagued North Kivu, came under M23 control on Sunday morning when rebels seized it from Congolese militaries and the Wazalendo alliance of pro-government armed groups. The Tutsi-led M23 group has been waging an insurgency in the main African nation's east since 2022. Congo and the United Countries accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing the group with its own troops and weapons. Rwanda rejects this. Congo army spokesman Sylvain...

Mineral Resources

M23 rebels take Congolese town of Kalembe, authorities say

The M23 rebel group has seized the town of Kalembe in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, expanding its reach in the area, an authorities and a. previous legislator stated on Monday. The Tutsi-led M23 has actually been waging an insurgency in the. central African nation's violence-torn east given that 2022. Congo. and the United Nations implicate neighbouring Rwanda of backing the. group with its own troops and weapons. Rwanda denies this however. states it has actually taken so-called defensive measures. Rebels had been stationed 10km from Kalembe for almost 8. months before they took control of the town on Sunday...

Mineral Resources

US guidelines on dispute minerals have not reduced violence in Congo, watchdog states

A U.S. congressional watchdog has discovered no proof that a 2012 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conflict minerals disclosure guideline has actually lowered violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, it said in a report on Monday. Equipped groups continue to fight for control of cash cow in the east of the Central African nation, the U.S. Government Accountability Workplace stated in its report. It likewise stated the rule - which needs some business to report on their usage of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold - has likely had no impact in neighbouring nations. GAO found no empirical proof that the...

Mineral Resources

US rules on dispute minerals have actually not minimized violence in Congo, GAO states

A U.S. congressional guard dog has actually found no proof that a 2012 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conflict minerals disclosure guideline has actually minimized violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, it stated in a report on Monday. Armed groups continue to defend control of cash cow in the east of the Main African country, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) stated in its report. It also stated the guideline - which needs some business to report on their use of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold - has likely had no impact in neighbouring nations. GAO found no empirical proof...

Mineral Resources

Congo's South Kivu governor clears miners to resume operations

T he governor of South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo has approved the resumption of all mining activities in the area but stated authorities would continue their investigation into the sector. All mining activities in the restive area, which is abundant in minerals such as gold, copper, diamond, tin, tantalum and cobalt, were suspended in July when Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki purchased companies and operators to leave mining websites to restore order to mining operations. In August, the suspension was raised with the exception of gold extraction. A statement released by a federal government spokesperson said back...

Mineral Resources

Congo seeks brand-new buyers for gold mined in eastern provinces

Democratic Republic of Congo is searching for new purchasers of gold from its eastern areas after taking complete control of Primera Gold which had an exclusive agreement to buy and offer gold mined in the east, the business's head stated. UAE-based Primera Group recently sold its stake in Congo-based Primera Gold, which had been a joint endeavor with the government, ending a questionable plan where it had been granted sole rights to trade gold dug by small manufacturers or so-called artisanal miners in eastern Congo. Primera Gold, now wholly owned by the federal government, is eager to invite other financiers...

Mineral Resources

Asia Cement (China) investors decline majority owner's take-private deal

Asia Cement (China)'s. shareholders have actually rejected its bulk owner's takeprivate. offer, it stated on Monday. Taiwan-listed Asia Cement Corp had used to take. the company personal at a HK$ 5.05 billion ($ 647.8 million). appraisal at a time when building suppliers continue to. face China's crisis-hit residential or commercial property sector. Asia Cement Corp is required to wait 12 months in the past. refilling. Preferably with a considerably greater deal price,. David Blennerhassett, expert at Quiddity Advisors said on. investment platform Smartkarma. Asia Cement (China)'s share cost should re-test April's. multi-year low tomorrow, Blennerhassett stated. In April, the Hong-Kong...

Mineral Resources

Cobalt supply tsunami strikes the market of last resort: Andy Home

Somebody provided 23 metric tons of cobalt to London Metal Exchange warehouses last month. This may not seem like a huge offer, however it was the first LME warranting of the battery metal because February 2022. It is, additionally, simply the idea of the cobalt iceberg. There were another 684 heaps sitting in the LME storage shadows at the end of June. This off-warrant stock, which is being warehoused under a contractual option for complete warranting, initially showed up in February, when it totaled up to 839 lots. The stocks activity has actually revitalised a contract that didn't. trade at...

Mineral Resources

Cobalt supply tsunami strikes the market of last resort: Andy Home

Someone delivered 23 metric lots of cobalt to London Metal Exchange storage facilities last month. This may not seem like a big deal, however it was the first LME warranting of the battery metal considering that February 2022. It is, additionally, simply the pointer of the cobalt iceberg. There were another 684 tons being in the LME storage shadows at the end of June. This off-warrant stock, which is being warehoused under a contractual option for complete warranting, initially appeared in February, when it totaled up to 839 heaps. The stocks activity has revitalised an agreement that didn't. trade at...

Mineral Resources

China's unusual copper export boom signals more than weak need: Andy Home

An unusual burst of Chinese exports has actually deflated bull spirits in the copper market, with funds disposing long positions and rates down by 16% from the record highs seen in May. The world's biggest buyer of copper shipped out an extraordinary 158,000 metric tons of refined metal in June. First-half exports of 302,000 loads were currently greater than any complete calendar year considering that 2019. This break of normal trade patterns has actually punctured a bull story of constrained supply and cyclical demand healing. Weak Chinese getting managers indices reveal that activity in the nation's production sector sank to...

Mineral Resources

China's uncommon copper export boom signifies more than weak need: Andy Home

An uncommon burst of Chinese exports has actually deflated bull spirits in the copper market, with funds discarding long positions and costs down by 16% from the record highs seen in May. The world's largest buyer of copper shipped an extraordinary 158,000 metric lots of refined metal in June. First-half exports of 302,000 tons were currently higher than any full calendar year since 2019. This break of typical trade patterns has pierced a bull narrative of constrained supply and cyclical need healing. Weak Chinese purchasing supervisors indices show that activity in the nation's production sector sank to a five-month low...

Mineral Resources

Glencore chooses versus coal spin-off after talking to financiers

Glencore will not spin off its coal organization after securing backing from the majority of its financiers who see profitable profits from the fossil fuel after the products giant's. recent acquisition of Teck Resources' coking coal. possessions, it stated on Wednesday. Lack of financial investment in brand-new coal possessions and a realisation that. the fuel will stay part of the global energy mix for many years to. come is most likely to underpin tight supplies and high costs which. investors anticipate will continue to enhance Glencore's revenues. The London-listed miner had actually been canvassing investors on. whether to keep the...