De Beers Consolidated Mine, branch of Anglo American, announced it has totaled for its seventh cycle of rough diamond sales $630 million, thus beating sixth cycle’s $520 million. Over the seven sales cycles, the firm collected $4.19 billion. “We saw healthy demand for our rough diamonds in Cycle 7, as manufacturers brought forward some of their demand in order to cut and...

As a result of a cabinet shuffle, Angola’s Presidency said in a statement published on September 5, 2016, that it has fired Minister of Finance, Armando Manuel. “The President of the Republic; José Eduardo dos Santos, by virtue of the powers conferred by the constitution, removes Armando Manuel from his position as Minister of Finance,” the statement said. So far, no reason was given to...

Past Group Managing Directors (GMDs) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have jointly advised that the nation's four refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt must be restructured and operated as Incorporated Joint Venture (IJV) companies rather than their current operational method. They revealed this during a meeting with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources,...

FMC Technologies has been granted a contract to provide subsea multiphase boosting pumps, manifolds, and installation support services for Eni Angola's Block 15/06 West Hub Development Project. The company's subsea multiphase boosting pumps will improve production economics by decreasing backpressure on the reservoir, thereby boosting flow rates and total recoverable reserves.“This is our...

Chemex Modular LLC., on Tuesday announced that it has reached terms in principle with Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Ltd (NDPR) to increase the latter's current refining capacity from 1,000 barrels of crude per day to 11,000 barrels per day. Under the terms, the expanded refinery will allow NDPR to supply increased diesel capacity, jet fuel, gasoline and marine diesel oil in addition to the...

Meridian Port Services (MPS), the firm managing the Tema harbour in Ghana, announced in a statement published on Sept 5 that it has secured $1.5 billion from various commercial banks and development finance institutions to expand the harbour which is situated at about 25km east of Accra. MPS is a joint-venture between APM Terminals, Bolloré Africa Logistics, Meridian Port Holdings Ltd and...

As the political crisis continues in Gabon, the second deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Séraphin Moundounga resigned. “I feared that Gabon would tumble in violence if results were released without a recount and a review of each voting station’s report. Since this didn’t happen, the country was engulfed in violence and it continues even now,” Moundounga said explaining his...

Eni and BP have completed the drilling of the second well in the South Baltim field, located southeast of the Nile Delta in Egypt. According to a source in the Petroleum Sector, the second well’s production is currently being inspected in order to confirm the results of the first well, as regards the available quantity of natural gas, Daily News Egypt reports. Eni and BP target drilling six...

British agribusiness investor, AgDevCo, has announced a $1.5mln investment in Malawian groundnut processor, Afri-Oils. The investor’s move falls in line with Afri-Oils’ vision to revive Malawi’s peanut export industry. The financing will be used to build a factory that will process locally produced nuts, train farmers and develop improved handling and sorting methods. The project...

African Petroleum has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an anonymous international exploration and production company regarding the farm-out of interests in licences A1 and A4, offshore Gambia. The proposal for the acquisition is subject to several conditions including the confirmation of the extension of the exploration periods of both licences by no less than 12 months as the exploration...