On July 1, the Central Bank of Egypt said it paid Qatar back the billion dollars which was provided as deposits, during the term of Mohamed Morsi. According to the official Egyptian press agency, MENA, Egypt thus reimbursed all it owes the rich monarchy which supports the Muslim Brotherhood, which Morsi belonged to. During Morsi’s term (June 2012- July 2013), Qatar granted the Central Bank...

The government of Benin has decided to power all its ministries and the Presidency with solar energy. This decision falls in line with its strategy to cut power consumed by public institutions in order for more power to be available in the national grid. In 2010, public institutions consumed 89 MW which represented 40% of power supplied by the country’s power utility, the SBEE. Energy saved...

Aminex, in its operational update on the Kiliwani North Development Licence, announced that gas production from the Kiliwani North-1 well in Tanzania has reached 30 Mmcf/d with steady pressure recordings at that rate. According to the company, the commissioning process of the well is expected to be completed with the testing of the well, in order to point out the best rates. Aminex estimates the...

Lekoil in its operational update on the development of the OPL 310 block which contains the Ogo oil discovery, offshore Nigeria. Located in the Upper Cretaceous fairway that runs along the West African Transform Margin, the OPL 310’s main prospects besides the Ogo discovery are in water depths from 100 to 800 meters and are not far from the West Africa Gas Pipeline. In 2015, Lekoil increased...

In South Africa, the Department of Energy has announced that from July 5, 2016, the retail price of both grades of petrol will increase by about 11 cents per litre, while diesel will rise by about 42 cents per litre. According to the department, 95 unleaded petrol (ULP) and Lead Replacement Petrol (LRP) will rise by 8 cents per litre, while 93 ULP and LRP will increase by 11cents per litre....

The Niger Delta Avengers have resumed attacks on oil installations, claiming responsibility for five new attacks in southern Delta since Friday.Up until now, the group made any attacks in the Niger Delta since June 16.   According to the group, a pipeline connected to the Warri refinery operated by NNPC was attacked on Friday night. On Saturday night, two lines close to Batan flow station...

Libya’s rival National Oil Corporations (NOCs) have decided to merge in a move to regain the country’s oil industry, which has been injured by attacks, rival export attempts and also the shutting down of pipelines and oil ports by militants. The country’s main natural resource is oil, with reserves estimated at 48 billion bbls. Production fell after the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar...

On June 23, 2016, Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni said that Uganda airlines could restart flying 16 years after going off radar, sinking under debts. President Museveni addressing its new Cabinet termed the lack on national airline a “big shame” while asking the minister of transports to initiate talks with potential investors to help Uganda Airlines get back into the skies. ...

Kenya’s economy grew by 5.9% in the first quarter of 2016 compared to 5% over the same period the year before. This was revealed by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in a report which indicates that the growth was spurred by a rebound in Tourism. This growth level for the period comes behind 7.6% recorded in Q1 2011. Data from the statistics office shows that the tourism...

The Central Bank of Morocco has announced on June 30 it received 10 applications for approvals from local Islamic banks, both local and foreign. The Bank added that the first banks will start operating by the end of 2016. “On 29 June 2016, ten applications were submitted, both by Moroccan banks and foreign finance groups,” Lhassane Benhalima, responsible for Banking supervision at Bank Al...