Morocco and Egypt keep leading the private equity market in North Africa. From January 2010 to June 2016, the two nations grabbed 81% of all investments made by private equity firms in the region, a report released by the African Private Equity Venture Capital Association (AVCA) revealed. Morocco grabbed 41% of all transactions in the region over the period considered and Egypt attracted 40% of...

The Central Bank of Morocco just invested $100 million in green bonds issued by the World Bank. According to a statement published on Nov. 7 by The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), World Bank’s main organization, the bonds which have fixed interest rate with a semi-annual coupon will mature on December 15, 2019. Bank Al-Maghrib’s investment occurs on the...

The International Cocoa Farmers Organization (ICCFO) launched the “New Generation Cote d’Ivoire” project to support cocoa farming in Cote d’Ivoire. The project aims to boost cocoa production in the country by introducing more youth in the sector. The ICCFO will provide these youth fertilizers and training. The first batch to benefit from the organization’s support comprises 60 youth....

A state-run oil pipeline that feeds the Forcados terminal near the southern port city of Warri has been bombed by militants on Tuesday. This is the second attack within a week a community leader and army officer revealed. State-owned Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) operates the pipeline which receives crude from the Batan flowstation and feeds the Forcados export...

Bowleven Plc in its preliminary results and operational update for the year ended 30 June 2016, announced that it is making headway on developing its offshore Cameroonian assets in spite of losses. The company said two appraisal well locations had been decided with its partners on the Etinde play in Cameroon as they target extra volumes of about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas from Etinde. Bowleven...

Somalia will soon launch first offshore hydrocarbon licencing round for exploration of oil and gas. This round will encompass areas off central and southern Somalia and will exclude shallow water block concessions signed in 1988 with Shell and Exxon Mobil. According to Abdulkadir Hussein, technical director-general in Somalia's Petroleum Ministry, a new state owned national oil company and...

Egyptian Petroleum Minister, Tarek El Molla (photo), has announced on Tuesday, that the country will be procuring refined oil products from the international spot market after Saudi Aramco decided to stop the shipment of products indefinitely. He declared this on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC). According to El-Molla, Egypt is meeting...

Kosmos Energy has announced that it has signed an agreement with Galp Energia to farm out 20% non-operated stake of its interest in Blocks 5, 11, and 12, offshore Sao Tome and Principe. Under the terms of the agreement, Galp will pay a fair share of Kosmos’ past costs on the 3D seismic survey over blocks 6, 11 and 12, which is anticipated to commence in Q1 of 2017.The transaction, which is...

NGO Tropenbos International revealed in a study it recently released that urban dwellers in Congo purchase more and more agricultural lands which they do not or cannot use and thus deprive rural populations of their main source of living. Talking at a Citizen’s Forum on agricultural challenges, the NGO’s head, Alphonse Maindo denounced: “We found out that many lands are hoarded that the...

Mozambique’s attorney general has appointed U.S. risk management firm Kroll to conduct the audit of the country’s debt after it was discovered that more than $2 billion in loans had been hidden by public firms, local media reported on November 5. The Mozambique News Agency will audit Mozambique Tuna Company (Ematum), Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management. The audit is a...