Central Africa

Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd, the state-owned energy company, reported a decline in profits in 2024, compared with a year earlier, due to global volatility, lower oil prices, and geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty. The firm also warned of future market challenges. Petroliam Nasional (or Petronas) reported a profit of $55.1 billion after taxes in 2024, compared to $80.7 billion in 2023. In 2024, revenue fell from 343.6 billion to 320 billion Ringgit. Capital investments in 2024 were 54.2 billion Ringgit compared to 52.80 billion Ringgit in the year 2023. Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz, Petronas' Chief Executive Officer, said that...

On Thursday, a top Swiss court found that a former Gunvor employee had corrupted officials in the Republic of Congo for oil contracts. This is the first time that a corruption case in Switzerland's commodities trading industry, worth $80 billion, has been brought to court. This follows the conviction of Trafigura, a rival trading firm, and a former executive in a corruption case involving Angolan Oil Deals last month. The Swiss Federal Criminal Court released a statement on Thursday that the ruling concerned bribes worth over $35 million, intended at least in part for Congolese officials, over an 18-month period...

S witzerland’s top criminal court found Trafigura, a former executive and a company guilty of corruption on Friday in a case involving the payment made to an Angolan government official in exchange for oil contract. The court ordered that the trading house pay $148 million as fines and compensation, and sentenced Mike Wainwright, a former employee of itss to 32 months imprisonment. Of this time 12 months must be served. You can appeal the decision to the same court. This is the first case in Switzerland where a company was charged with corruption of an official from abroad. It's also...

Chadians were voting on Sunday in a parliamentary election boycotted by the opposition that will likely consolidate President Mahamat Idriss Deby's. power and finish the oilproducing country's transition towards. constitutional guideline. Deby was elected in a challenged vote in May, three years after. taking power and declaring himself interim leader when rebels. killed his father, President Idriss Deby, on the battlefield. Opposition leader Succes Masra's Transformateurs party and. numerous other celebrations boycotted Sunday's legislative election,. the country's first in over a decade. They are also boycotting. community and local elections also being hung on Sunday. Surveys opened for wanderers and...

Cameroon's President Paul Biya cautioned on Monday of devastating consequences for the countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa if immediate action is not taken to address their degrading net external reserves. The member nations - Cameroon, Gabon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, and the Republic of Congo - share monetary policy and a currency with a common reserve bank. Between them, they have actually struggled to emerge from the impact of the COVID pandemic and other external international shocks, leaving them short of forex or other properties to cover import costs and debt payments. They...

Britain has barred Angolan billionaire Isabel dos Santos and Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash and has frozen their UK possessions, the federal government announced on Thursday, in what it said became part of a new crackdown on ' dirty cash'. The procedures were the first step in tightening Britain's. anti-corruption sanctions program as promised in July's election,. the Labour federal government stated. These deceitful people selfishly deny their. fellow people of much-needed funding for education, healthcare. and infrastructure - for their own enrichment, Foreign. Secretary David Lammy said in a declaration. Dos Santos, whose daddy Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled. Angola...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Angola announced on Tuesday that it will attempt to broker direct negotiations between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda-backed M23 M23 rebels within the next few days. The Congolese government has refused to engage in talks with M23 on numerous occasions and so far, there is no comment. The Southern African nation has been working to mediate for a long-lasting ceasefire, and deescalate tensions with Rwanda. Rwanda has been accused by the Congo of supporting the Tutsi rebel group. Rwanda denies that it has provided arms and troops to the M23 rebels and claims its forces are acting...

A military prosecutor has invited officials from the former party of Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to appear in front of him on Monday. This is a sign of the political tensions surrounding the Rwanda-backed rebels’ advances in the East. Jean Mbuyu said that the exact reason behind the invitations wasn't clear. He is a former security adviser to Kabila and a lawyer who represents the officials. Felix Tshisekedi - who had once formed a power-sharing agreement with Kabila – has accused him recently of sponsoring M23 rebels, who have taken over the two largest cities in east...

The United States is open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with Congo, the State Department said in a statement to on Sunday, after a Congolese senator contacted U.S. officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal. The Democratic Republic of Congo is rich in minerals such as cobalt, uranium, and lithium. Rwanda-backed M23 M23 rebels have taken over large areas of the country this year. Kinshasa has been buzzing with talk of a deal between the U.S. and Ukraine, which are also negotiating a mineral pact. A spokesperson for the State Department said that the United States was "open to discussing partnerships...

Residents reported that fighting between M23 rebels, and pro-Congo forces, was taking place in Nyabiondo on Sunday, 100 km north of Goma, in the eastern Congo. This comes days after an attack in the area left many civilians dead, according to both UN and NGO reports. Since the beginning of this year, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has taken over large areas of the mineral-rich east of Congo. Kipanda Bibiiri, a local official who was fleeing from the area, said that M23 had taken Nyabiondo at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) following clashes. Telesphore Mitondeke is a civil society reporter in...

The United States is open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with Congo, the State Department said in a statement to on Sunday, after a Congolese senator contacted U.S. officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal. The Democratic Republic of Congo is rich in minerals such as cobalt, uranium, and lithium. Rwanda-backed M23 M23 rebels have taken over large areas of the country this year. Kinshasa has been buzzing with talk of a deal between the U.S. and Ukraine, which are also in talks over a mineral pact. A spokesperson for the State Department said that the United States was "open to...

Residents reported that fighting between M23 rebels, and pro-Congo armed militias, was taking place in Nyabiondo on Sunday, 100 km north of Goma, in eastern Congo. This comes days after an attack in the area left many civilians dead, according to both UN and NGO reports. Since the beginning of this year, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has taken over large areas of mineral-rich eastern Congo. Kipanda Bibiiri, a local official who was fleeing from the area, said that M23 had taken Nyabiondo at 11am (0900 GMT) following clashes. Telesphore Mitondeke is a civil society reporter in Masisi. Nyabiondo lies...

A study released on Thursday showed that Germany has enough lithium reserves for its own needs over several decades. Berlin is trying to increase its production of electric vehicles and reduce its dependence on imports. According to the German Raw Materials Agency, Germany's lithium consumption could reach up to 0.17 millions metric tons annually by 2030. The German automotive industry imports lithium from Australia, Argentina Chile and China in order to meet its battery production requirements. Researchers and companies are exploring ways to extract the lithium byproduct from geothermal energy in Germany's Upper Rhine Valley, to increase domestic supply as...

The company's annual report stated that Chinese state-controlled mining firm MMG Ltd put its Kinsevere Cobalt Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo under care and maintenance due to the unfavourable market conditions for cobalt in December. MMG approved a 2022 extension of the mine's life and added cobalt production to its current copper production. MMG reported that the extension project was finished in September of last year but that the cobalt facility was shut down in December. It said that "a flexible cobalt strategy will be implemented moving forward, adapting cobalt prices to market conditions and cobalt content varying...

The Wa State in Myanmar, a semiautonomous region, has finally broken a year-long silence about the fate of Man Maw Tin Mine. The mine is a jewel in Myanmar's crown of tin and its suspension, since August 2023 ostensibly to conduct an audit, has cut the flow of raw tin materials into Chinese smelters thereby reducing the output of refined metal. The Wa authorities now say they are ready for applications to be submitted for mining and processing licenses at Man Maw. This indicates that it is likely to return in the second half of this year. The International Tin...

The Wa State in Myanmar, a semiautonomous region, has finally broken a year-long silence about the fate of Man Maw Tin Mine. The mine is the crown jewel of Myanmar's tin industry. Its suspension in August 2023 - ostensibly to conduct an audit - has reduced the flow tin materials from Myanmar to Chinese smelters and thereby constrained the output of refined metal. The Wa authorities now say they are ready for applications to be submitted for mining and processing licenses at Man Maw. This indicates that it is likely to return in the second half of this year. The...

The United Nations reported on Monday that M23 rebels supported by Rwanda, who launched an offensive in eastern Congo last week abducted at least 131 sick and injured men from two Goma hospitals. In a statement, Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Office said that M23 fighters attacked CBCA Ndosho Hospital on February 28 and Heal African Hospital in the same night. They took 116 and 15 victims respectively. The men abducted were believed to be Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) soldiers or Wazalendo, a progovernment militia. Shamdasani, who called for the immediate release of these prisoners, said:...

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet today with the U.S. president Donald Trump to sign an important minerals deal to ensure continued U.S. support in the war against Russia. It started out as a rare-earths deal, but someone soon realized that Ukraine actually doesn't have much of these 17 esoteric elements. The draft text of the proposed Reconstruction Investment Fund simply refers to "deposits" of hydrocarbons, minerals, oil, and gas. Mortgages of Ukrainian security for its mineral wealth come with a long overdue payback. The clue lies in the word "deposits". Finding deposits of minerals is easy. Mining them...