Apex International Energy has announced that it has been awarded Blocks 8 and 9 in the Abu Gharadig Basin in Egypt's Western Desert by the Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC) from the 2016 Bid Round. This is coming after the Ministry of Petroleum last week announced that it received six bids for oil and gas exploration worth a total investment of close to $200 million. “We are...

Seadrill Partners has announced that last week, it received a notice of termination from Tullow Ghana for the semi-submersible rig, West Leo. This is coming after Tullow in October declared force majeure, claiming the field that the rig was hired for, was subject to a drilling moratorium by the Ghanaian government, due to a maritime border issue. “Tullow has purported to terminate the...

Aminex in its operational update for the Ruvuma PSA and the Kiliwani North Development Licence announced that an independent assessment of the Caroil 2 drilling rig has been completed and the Ntorya-2 appraisal well is now expected to be drilled in mid-December. The Ntorya-2 well where the company has a 75% operated interest is situated 1,500-metre from the Ntorya-1 discovery which flow-tested...

Nigeria and Morocco have entered into a joint venture agreement to build a gas pipeline that will link the two countries and some other African countries to Europe. According to Nigeria's minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyema (photo), the agreement was signed during a visit by the Morocco's King Mohammed to Nigeria. He said the planned pipeline project would be designed with the...

The members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) made a historic agreement in Vienna, for the first time in eight years on a concerted production freeze at 32.5 million barrels per day in order to fast track the markets rebalancing and increase producers’ reserves. Ecofin Agency spoke with Francis Perrin, the chairman of Strategy and Energy Policy and the Editor of Arab...

Tunisian authorities announced in as statement that private buildings constructed on State lands in the Cap Negro region have been demolished, on order of Beja’s Governor. The buildings’ owners were warned by the State secretary for Public domains and Land affairs, Mabrouk Kourchid, last October, the 20th, as he visited the region. “Illegal constructions across Cap Negro, which is part of...

The first production unit of Mount Coffee hydropower plant will be tested for the first time this Saturday, Dec. 3. With a capacity of 22MW, the turbine will be tested until December 15, when it will effectively go online. It should be recalled that the testing is a step toward the rehabilitation of the Mount Coffee hydropower dam which has a total capacity of 88 MW. The infrastructure was...

French car manufacturer PSA Peugeot-Citroën announced in statement dated November 29, 2016, it will build in Tunisia a car assembly unit to serve the local market. “PSA and its Tunisian partner Stafim signed a letter of intention to assemble and sell in Tunisia a Peugeot pick-up model. The project will start mid-2018 with an annual production capacity of 1,200 units to meet the demand of...

Ethiopia signed on December 2, 2016, a financial agreement with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to develop small-scale irrigation systems. Initialing the agreement were Kanayo Nwanze, IFAD’s president, and Mulugeta Alemseged, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Italy and the United Nations. Valued at more than $144 million, the agreement includes a $102 million loan...

Forbes Africa in its December 2016-January 2017 edition published the second edition of its rankings of wealthiest individuals and families, in the Francophone part of sub-Saharan Africa, a region which is often forgotten in the world’s main rankings of wealthy individuals. In the region which has “for long been ignored by economic press”, the richest person is Cameroonian Baba Danpullo...