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...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is currently in a dispute with ExxonMobil and Shell on the ownership of physical crude cargoes as the country plans to bolster its budget. Du to this disagreement, Nigeria’s monthly oil export programmes have been delayed and there has been confusion over the amount of crude the country has at its disposal to swap for gasoline and sell to fund...

The New Development Bank just granted South Africa a loan of $180 million to develop its renewable energy sector. According to the bank’s spokesperson, the funds will be used to develop a 670MW transmission line and renewable energy producing plants with a combined capacity of 500 MW. These plants will be established by independent power producers. The $180 million loan to SA is...

United Arab Emirates’ largest Islamic bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, should start its activities in Kenya by the end of 2016, Kenyan media revealed citing sources close to the process. The bank should thus become the third financial institution to provide banking services that are compatible with Islamic regulation in Kenya where 10% over a population of 44 million are Muslims according to official...

In Ghana, the Agricultural Development Bank raised 450 million cedis (about $119 million) on the Ghana Stock Exchange through an Initial Public Offering (IPO), the first in about two years. The offer was overwritten. Ghana stock exchange approved extension of delays and resulted in it being scaled up by 100 million cedis. From the raised sum, 300 million cedis should be added to Adb’s...