West Africa

The following are the leading stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has actually not verified these stories and does not attest their accuracy. Headings - Volkswagen fined by UK regulator for treatment of consumers in monetary problem - Nigeria declines Shell's planned sale of $1.3 bln onshore production system - UK will offer $3 bln towards G7 loan for Ukraine - UK workers' rights reforms to cost services 5 bln pounds a year - Serious Scams Workplace probes ₤ 112mn hotel developed by leading UK trade union Introduction - UK's monetary regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, on Monday fined Volkswagen...

Nigerian fuel traders are increase gas imports to enhance supply from the Dangote Refinery following getting worse fuel lines, the head of a local traders group said on Thursday. The Dangote Refinery began processing gas in September, with strategies to supply a preliminary 25 million litres day-to-day and slowly increase output to the 35 million the business believes would please regional need. Our members have actually been importing petrol for weeks to satisfy the shortfall from the Dangote Refinery, said Clement Isong, CEO of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria. Other traders grouped under the Independent Petroleum Online marketers...

Nigeria took a significant step in its quest to earn revenue from its large gas reserves, signing a. handle joint venture partners to provide gas to a proposed. $ 3.5 billion Brass fertilizer and petrochemical plant, an. official stated on Friday. Under the agreement, joint venture partners including Shell. , TotalEnergies and Eni will deliver. an approximated 270 million standard cubic feet of gas daily to. the plant in Brass, in Nigeria's coastal Bayelsa state. Petroleum Ministry Permanent Secretary Nicholas Agbo Ella. stated the Gas Sale and Purchase Arrangement is a part of the Brass. Fertilizer and Petrochemical Job, which...

Nigeria's local fuel traders can now buy petrol directly from the Dangote Oil Refinery, ending stateoil company NNPC's special purchasing rights as the nation relocates to completely decontrol its processing sector, the financing minister said on Friday. The Dangote Oil Refinery began processing fuel in September and announced that NNPC Ltd would be the sole purchaser. This arrangement permitted the federal government to continue to offer subsidies on oil products. Nevertheless, NNPC hiked fuel costs by over 15% on Wednesday, offering fuel at market value for the first time in over three decades, marking the exit from a costly subsidy...

An Italian court sentenced on Tuesday 2 Milan district attorneys to 8 months in jail for failing to file documents that would have supported energy group Eni's position in a worldwide corruption case. Eni, Shell, and all the defendants were nonetheless acquitted by a court in Milan in March 2021 in what became referred to as the market's most significant corruption case, which focused on the $1.3 billion acquisition of a Nigerian oilfield a years earlier. Judges in a court in the northern city of Brescia ruled that Milan district attorneys Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro had a. legal...

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...

Nigeria's Dangote Oil Refinery has actually begun processing gas after delays caused by current crude shortages, an executive stated on Monday. The $20 billion refinery on the borders of Lagos, constructed by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, started operations in January with output of products consisting of naphtha and jet fuel. With a capability of 650,000 barrels each day, Africa's largest refinery promises to relieve oil producer Nigeria's expensive reliance on imported oil items. We are evaluating the item (fuel) and subsequently it will start flowing into the item tanks, said Devakumar Edwin, a vice president at Dangote Industries Limited. He...

Nigeria's stateowned NNPC Ltd. oil business said it has started the tender procedure for the. operation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries, which are. arranged to start processing crude this year. The oil refineries, which are being upgraded after being. shut for a number of years, have the capacity to process 125,000. barrels per day (bpd) and 110,000 bpd, respectively. Nigeria, which is Africa's biggest oil producer, is looking for. operators to make sure reliability and sustainability towards. satisfying the country's fuel supply and energy security. commitments, NNPC said in a public notification on Thursday. Warri and Kaduna are amongst...

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu will fulfill Chinese leader Xi Jinping throughout a visit to China next week to talk about cooperation on the economy, agriculture and satellite technology, a Nigerian federal government representative stated on Tuesday. Tinubu, who has set in motion deep reforms in Africa's. largest economy, will remain in Beijing together with other African. leaders to attend the China-Africa Cooperation Summit. This is going to become part of a wider engagement where the. 2 presidents will go over matters of mutual interest. across not just the economy, however also on issues of nationwide,. regional, and international security, the...

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...

Nigeria's significant Dangote oil refinery is reselling freights of U.S. and Nigerian crude, 4 trade sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. 3 of the sources stated the reoffer was linked to technical issues at the refinery. A Dangote executive, asked about the offers and talk in the market that the refinery is having operational concerns affecting the unrefined distillation system, said the CDU functions. The refinery began production in January and will be the biggest in Africa and Europe when it reaches full capacity. It might overthrow what has actually been an extremely rewarding Europe-to-Africa fuel trade and...

Eni might pocket more than 8 billion euros ($ 8.7 billion) in net profits from disposals by 2027, CEO Claudio Descalzi stated on Friday after the Italian energy group reported secondquarter outcomes ahead of agreement. We have been performing our disposal plan much faster than anticipated, Descalzi stated, speaking with analysts on a. post-result teleconference. In its updated company strategy to 2027, the group stated it. intended to gather around 4 billion euros from the sale of oil and. gas assets and a similar quantity from minority stake sales and. initial public offerings of its low-carbon systems. The potential customers...

Londonlisted Endeavour Mining said on Saturday it had a goal of producing about 200,000 ounces of gold annually from 2025 from its 2nd gold mine in Ivory Coast. Lafigue Mine, inaugurated on Saturday, lies about 500 kilometres (km) northeast of the industrial capital Abidjan, in the Dabakala area. It started gold production in early August and is anticipated to produce in between 90,000 and 100,000 ounces by the end of the year, the company said. In a declaration, Endeavour stated it had actually invested 250 billion CFA francs ($ 415 million) in the project, which it expects to have a...

Aluminium rates rose in London on Friday on concerns that supply disturbances from significant exporter of the feed material Guinea would even more tighten up the market for alumina, the main active ingredient in making aluminium. Emirates Global Aluminium stated on Friday the exports of alumina basic material bauxite from its subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation were suspended by customs and it was looking for clarity from customizeds on the factor. Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME). increased 2.5% to $2,650 per metric load by 1025 GMT. Alumina. rates on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) leapt to a. record...

Prices of alumina on the Shanghai Futures Exchange leapt more than 6% to a record high on Friday on issues of bauxite supply disruption from Guinea amid an already tight market. Later in the day, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) stated bauxite exports from its subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation ( GAC) are suspended by customizeds. Bauxite is improved into alumina, the primary ingredient in making aluminium. We are seeking clearness from customs on the reason for this action, and are working to resolve this as rapidly as possible, EGA stated in a declaration in action to Reuters ask for remark. Production...

China's Zijin Mining Group will purchase the Akyem Gold Mine Job in Ghana from U.S.based Newmont Corp for $1 billion, the business said on Wednesday. The sale is a part of Newmont's continuous programme to divest non-core assets as the business makes a strategic shift to focus on its tier one properties, the U.S. gold producer said. Newmont is expected to get cash factor to consider of $900. million upon the deal's closure, with an additional $100 million. upon satisfaction of particular conditions. The deal will see Zijin's system Gold Source International. getting a subsidiary of Newmont, which in turn...

Burkina Faso prepares to withdraw mining authorizations from some foreign companies and will look for to produce more of its own gold, junta leader Ibrahim Traore said on Saturday, without specifying which permits might be cancelled. We understand how to mine our gold and I do not understand why we're going to let multinationals come and mine it, Traore said in a radio address to mark 2 years because he took power in a. coup. In reality, we are going to withdraw mining licenses, he said. He did not specify which permits or offer additional information. Gold is the primary...

Zimbabwe has softened its requirements for lithium miners to process the mineral locally, a government official stated on Thursday, as the industry fights to endure a rate downturn over the past year. Africa's top lithium producer, Zimbabwe had actually last year given manufacturers up to March 2024 to send plans of how they would produce battery-grade lithium in the impoverished southern African country. Prices of lithium, which is mainly utilized in battery technologies, have fallen more than 80% in the past year largely due to overproduction from China and a drop in need for electric lorries. The price collapse has...

Barrick Gold Corp and the Mali federal government have decided to discover a resolution to existing claims and disagreements over the Loulo and Gounkoto cash cow in the West African nation, the company said on Monday. The declaration from the world's second biggest miner comes 2 days after the Malian government detained 4 Barrick workers. The 2 parties have actually been working out a brand-new mining contract that proposes to provide Mali's military-led authorities greater control over its resources. Mali is one of Africa's. most significant gold producers. Barrick stated the details of the contract will be made. public as...

Mali's militaryled authorities have detained four employees of Canadian miner Barrick Gold, two sources stated on Friday. All 4 are senior Malian employees, among the sources said. Barrick is the world's second-largest gold miner and among Mali's top gold manufacturers, however like other international miners it has actually been under growing pressure in the West African country given that a junta took power in 2020. A federal government authorities based in the area and speaking on condition of anonymity stated 4 Barrick workers had actually been arrested for alleged monetary criminal offenses. Barrick decreased to comment. The Malian authorities could...

Liberia's Environmental Protection Company shut down on Wednesday the operations of China Union's iron ore Bong Mines for breaking a number of environmental regulations, the regulative agency said on Thursday. China Union took control of the Bong Mines, situated around 150 km ( 94 miles) northeast of the capital Monrovia, with a. $ 2.6-billion investment in 2008. It made its first delivery of. iron ore in 2014. The company stated it closed down Bong Mines for operating. without an effluent discharge license, developing a processing. plant without a license and discharging tailings into a wetland. It said it had actually...

Africa's top gold manufacturer Ghana will commission its very first largescale greenfield mine in more than a decade in November, with expected annual production of more than 350,000 ounces, the head of its mining sector regulator told Reuters. The Cardinal Namdini mine is owned by Cardinal Resources, a. unit of Shandong Gold which got a licence for. the facility in 2020. Ghana, the world's number two cocoa manufacturer, has actually seen gold. expedition downturn over the previous decade, limiting brand-new tasks. and reducing output from big miners. Martin Ayisi, CEO of the Minerals Commission, said 3. other new mines, consisting...

Mali's gold reserves fell 17%. between 2022 and 2024 to 731 metric lots, statistical information from. the mines ministry revealed on Wednesday. Mali is among Africa's top gold manufacturers and is home to. mining companies including Barrick Gold, B2GOLD. and Resolute Mining. According to data provided to Reuters, gold reserves held by. mining companies was up to 731 metric lots from 881.7 heaps 2. years earlier. The mines ministry did not supply a reason for the reserves. decrease. Information showed that Syama mine, owned by Australian company. Resolute Mining, triumphes with 141 lots of gold. reserves. It is followed by...

China's Xuzhou Building Equipment Group (XCMG) has actually signed a contract with worldwide miner Rio Tinto's Simfer to supply equipment for its giant, untapped Simandou iron ore job in Guinea, the Chinese company said on Wednesday. China's leading construction equipment maker, headquartered in east region of Xuzhou city, will provide core mining devices with a total value of nearly 800 million yuan ($ 111.91 million), consisting of dozens of 230-metric lot mining trucks, for the Simandou job, the company stated in a post on its WeChat account. The task in southeast Guinea, which is viewed as key to the green...