In Morocco, the NOOR solar project is moving forward. Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) identified the second wave of sites that are to host solar plants of NOOR PV II. These include Taroudant, Kalaat Seraghna, Bejaad, Guercif and El Hajeb which should join Ouarzazate, Midelt Tata, Laâyoune and Boujdour if topographic, geotechnical, sesmic, hydrologic and hydrogeologic studies are...

Telecom tower manager and subsidiary of Helios Towers Africa group, Helios Towers Tanzania has got a syndicated loan of $95 million. The deal which was arranged by Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd, recorded the financial participation of Stanbic Bank Tanzania Limited, Dutch development finance bank FMO, Investec Bank Limited, National Micro Finance Bank Plc and The Emerging Africa...

In Angola, Ministry of Agriculture just announced logs production was 125,000 Mt in 2015. According to officials, the wood industry, which has one of the most promising potentials for export, should have better results in the coming years.   Truly, production should increase by 105,000 Mt by 2017. The government plans to replace the current legislation on forest and wild fauna by...

Panoro Energy on Wednesday, announced that the Aje oil field offshore Nigeria, is in its last stages of development operations. According to the company the concluding hook up measures are currently under way and the wells will start production soon. The Aje oil field, was discovered in 1997, and is situated on the OML 113 license offshore Nigeria. The licence is operated by Yinka Folawiyo...

Eland Oil & Gas Plc on Wednesday revealed that it has concluded the re-evaluation of the Ubima field, inside OML 17 in Nigeria. According to the company, the re-evaluation has increased hopes that production can commence by the end of 2016 by means of an Early Production System. Eland’s 40% owned Ubima field has been estimated to contain about 2.42mln barrels of proved and probable oil...

In Algeria, Phillips 66 has bought a cargo of Algerian crude oil for its Bayway refinery in New Jersey for the first time since 2013, sources revealed. The vessel; Energy Century laden with about 433,000 bbls of Saharan Blend crude oil left Algerian port of Skikda on March 29 and was received in New York Harbor on Monday. A managing principal at ESAI Energy LLC, Sarah Emerson, has said that the...

BP Plc’s Regional President, North Africa, Hesham Mekawi (photo), has announced that the company’s operated Taurus/Libra gas fields in West Nile Delta project will begin production next year. According to him, the company at present adds about 30% to Egypt’s overall natural gas production. BP early this year plans to increase its natural gas production in the country in the next four...

Randgold Resources signed a joint-venture agreement with Moku Goldmines AG, which is controlled by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler through his firm Fleurette Group, to develop the Moku-Beverendi gold project in DR Congo. The agreement was signed after Randgold made an approach, in February 2015, to acquire the mine. Under the agreement, the company is to get a minimum 51% stake in the projects,...

“Nigeria needs a seed industry revolution”. This is what Nigeria’s minister of agriculture, Audu Ogbeh said as he exposed the failures of the country’s seed industry. The industry currently records a deficit of about 230,000 metric tons of seeds for the three major grain crops grown in Nigeria: rice, maize and sorghum. Nigeria needs N112 billion to overcome this deficit. “The 2015...

Kenyan insurer CIC Insurance and Diamond Trust Bank replaced Kenya Airways and Standard Chartered Bank Kenya in the NSE 20, an index that list first 20 stock capitalizations on Nairobi Securities Exchange. Due to their poor performances and investors losing interest, the two firms had to exit the index. Contrarily to these two, CIC Insurance keeps growing. On March 11, 2016, it forecast that...