Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Wells Fargo Bank announced the creation of a $300 million fund which focuses on financing energy and infrastrcuture projects in Africa. The fund will invest at least $150 million in the Power Africa initiative developed by President Barack Obama while about $100 million will be used to...

Liberian government and China Exim Bank signed earlier this week a loan agreement for $50 million which Liberia will use to build a new terminal at Monrovia’s Roberts international airport. According to Liberian authorities, works for the project should start immediately and end in deadlines set by the China Harbor, the firm that got the contract. Liberia’s President, Ellen Johnson...

On Oct. 6, 2016, Morocco’s minister of industry, trade, investment and digital economy, Moulay Hafid Elalamy,chairman of AGC Automotive Europe, and president of Induver, Hakim Abdelmoumen, signed in Casablanca a memorandum of understanding for 1.183 billion dirham to build an industrial unit in Kenitra. The joint-venture named “AGC Automotive Induver Morocco” will generate 650 jobs and...

Oil prices increased by about 7% last week, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC oil producers announced plans to cut production to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels per day in Algiers. These major oil producers are planning to meet in Istanbul from October 8 to 13 for informal talks on how to execute the production deal. Francis Perrin (photo),...

Kenya needs the oil price to be between $50 and $55 per barrel to exploit its reserves at a profitable level, a government official revealed. According to the Principal Secretary at the State Department of Petroleum, Andrew Kamau, the country is to start small exports of crude for a pilot project next summer but the projects are not expected to generate profits. Kenya has estimated...

World Bank granted Tanzania a $1.6 billion loan to help it end repeated power outages, rebuild its railways and develop agriculture, Reuters said. The country’s minister of finance said in statement on Thursday that he secured the facility ahead of the annual meetings of World Bank and IMF, this week. “The financial package will help the government to improve various infrastructure and...

Ahead of annual meetings of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on October 7 to 9, 2016, in Washington, IMF said in a report published on Oct. 4 that Morocco’s economy should grow by 4.8% in 2017 against 1.8% in 2016. The new forecast slightly exceeds 4.5% estimated in the 2017 finance bill and 3.5% forecast by the High Commissioner for Planning (HCP). Regarding this year’s...

Sound Energy on Friday announced that the second well, TE-7, at its Tendrara licence, onshore Morocco, has reached a total measured depth of 3,459 metres. The company says it has successfully completed a 700 metre sub horizontal drill through the TAGI reservoir.  It has also witnessed significant gas shows from the TAGI sandstones. Sound Energy estimates a total vertical net gas pay of...

Ghana has commenced the exportation of fuel and gas oil to Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali from the Bolgatanga Petroleum Depot operated by Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) Company Limited. According to Ghana’s Minister of Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah (photo), plans are underway to extend the exports to Liberia in few months. He added that the government’s...

For the first time since late last year, an oil tanker loaded crude export cargo at Libya’s Zueitina oil terminal, a port official revealed. According to the port official, the Ionic Anassa oil tanker loaded 800,000 barrels of oil for export to China. Zueitina is one of the three formerly blocked ports that reopened in September, following the seizure of the terminals by Dignity Operation...