In Gabon, the nine magistrates of the Constitutional Court who have until September 23, 2016 to give the verdict regarding the Presidential elections of last Aug 27th are currently reviewing appeals resulting from the re-election out outgoing president, Ali Bongo. In the process, the review of votes of the Haut-Ogoué province where Bongo had 95% of votes is decisive and crucial. In the...

In a joint study entitled “The cost of air pollution: Strenghtening the economic case for action, the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)” said air pollution is the fourth cause of premature deaths in the world. Losses in work revenues associated to these deaths have been estimated to around $225 billion, in 2013, the study highlights. Air pollution...

Morocco’s government forecast an economic growth of 4.5% for 2017 against less than 2% in 2016, during which the country experienced its worst drought in decades, Reuters reported on September 8, citing official sources. The budget deficit of the nation should around 3% of GDP against 3.5% in 2016, the same sources added. The drought that washed over Morocco cut its grains output to 3.35...

BP Exploration Limited has awarded Nexans a contract to provide about 100 km of static umbilical and related accessories for the next phase of the West Nile Delta project. The West Nile Delta project involves the development of gas and condensate fields located within the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deepwater concessions in the Mediterranean Sea.The contract will help BP and its...

ExxonMobil is putting an October 8 to 16 loading cargo of Nigeria's Qua Iboe crude oil on offer at a prize of $1.80 per barrel, according to sources. This is the first offer since the company declared force majeure on Nigeria's largest export stream in July, due to a leak on the pipeline that feeds the oil to the export terminal. It is however unclear if the pipeline has been refurbished,...

Pura Vida Energy has announced that it is currently in talks with industry partners regarding the farm-out of the Nkembe block, offshore Gabon. According to the company, farm-out discussions are ongoing with partners that are now focused on commercialization of the Loba Complex in the near term. Financing of the forward work program for the Nkembe block relies on securing a farm-in partner...

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in its forecast for September said that a sharp decline in global oil demand growth, together with rising inventories and supply signifies that the crude oil market will be oversupplied through the first six months of 2017. “Our forecast in this month's report suggests that this supply-demand dynamic may not change significantly in the coming months. As a...

CEFC China Energy has entered into a deal to purchase a 35% interest in oil blocks in Chad from Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) for the sum of $110 million. According to CEFC company executives, the agreement symbolizes the company’s first concluded transaction in the upstream oil exploration and production as it focuses on establish a vertically combined energy business which will also...

Nigeria spent N595.5 billion on the importation of fuel in the first six months of 2016, an increase of N34.3 billion compared to the amount spent in the last six months of 2015, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the Agency, the country spent N276.226 billion on petrol import in Q1 of 2016 and N319.28 billion in Q2 of this year. The report showed that...

Qatar Petroleum has shown interest in Eni’s Mozambique gas business and might decide to join Exxon Mobil in acquiring a stake as the Italian company looks to sell 5 billion euros of assets over the next two years, according to sources. Eni intends to reduce its stake by 50% in the giant Mozambique gas acreage. Last month Exxon signed a deal that could grant it an operating interest in the...