Sudan has inaugurated drilling works in the first well of Al-Rawat oil field in the White Nile state, as part of aim in increasing its production since secession of South Sudan in 2011. Al-Rawat field or Block 26 is situated in the White Nile state but other parties are in Sennar and North Kordofan states. The oilfield is run by Al-Rawat Company a consortium of the government owned Sudapet...

Forte Oil Plc, one of Nigeria’s integrated energy solution providers, has confirmed the acquisition of 17 % of its equity by Mercuria Energy Holdings SA for $200 million. Thisday reports. With the foreign direct investment in Forte Oil, the world’s third largest independent energy trader and asset operator has made inroads into the West African energy sector. Forte Oil in a...

Soraz, the oil refinery in Niger owned by China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC), has announced facing short-term difficulties due to a fall in global oil prices, but still focused on selling its own products eventually. The refinery, a joint venture between CNPC and the government, has a capacity of 20,000 b/d and processes oil from the West African country's Agadem field that began...

Ghana has confirmed that it is now getting robust supply through the West AfricanGas Pipeline (WAGP) network. Undeniably, Ghana’s Volta River Authority (VRA) confirmed that it is unable to consume all the gas that comes in. The Business Development Manager of the VRA, Kofi Ellis (picture), recently stated that “Currently, we are getting in excess of 140 million standard cubic feet per day of...

IPR Energy Resources Ltd. (IPR) has picked up two new blocks in Egypt; the North Al Baraka (Block 7) and the South Al Baraka (Block 8). The concession awards were part of Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope)’s latest licensing round. Both blocks are considered to be an extension of the Eastern Desert Basin exploration play which has already yielded finds and infrastructure in the...

In the next few days, mobile telephone operators Tigo and Airtel will launch the linking of their mobile payment services. The project which will be in a pilot phase will last six months. It should allow users of Tigo Cash and Airtel Money to send money, regardless of the operator they use, from either telecom store. The objective of this collaboration is to enhance financial inclusion of small...

The government must seize all the blood diamonds, sell them and use the money in the public interest. The Central African population must be able to benefit from its own natural resources. Such is the call made, some days ago, by Lucy Graham, legal adviser in Amnesty International's Business and Human Rights team, to Central African authorities. On 30 September, Amnesty International released a...

After the South Western region in 2012 and 2014, it is the turn of Cameroon’s central and Southern region to be the recipients of the Telcar Cocoa, local dealer of international firm Cargill, training program for producers of certified cocoa. Telcar Cocoa’s objective for extending its “Cocoa Sustainability Venture” to these regions is the training of 10,000 new producers of certified...

The national coordinator of the project on optic fibre interconnection from Congo to Gabon, Yvon Didier Miehakanda, declared that the work laying optic fibre that commenced on 18 June 2015 is already 40% completed. That is 208 kilometres of optic fibre installed in three months, out of the total of 520 kilometres of fibre optic fibre that make up this project. In a meeting with the media on 5...

The African Renewable Energy Fund (AREF), a dedicated renewable energy fund focused on sub-Saharan Africa successfully reached its final close today at its hard cap, with USD200 million of committed capital to support small to medium scale projects, with investment at the final close from European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), among...