Sonangol EP group, has announced that Lontra-1 gas well of Block 20/15 in the Kwanza Basin is a commercial well. The company which owns and operates the Block 20/15 concession, stated that the declaration is due to the result of the drilling and discovery of the reservoir containing natural gas and condensate. The results confirms the existence of gas and condensate, estimated at 139 million...

Shell has commenced talks with Iran for the supply of oil to the Anglo-Dutch company’s refineries in South Africa. According to the South African Deputy Minister of Energy, Thembisile Majola, most refineries in South African refineries are controlled by foreign companies and they could be encourage to resume trade with Iran since sanctions has been lifted, Mehr news reports For his part, the...

Lekoil in its update on operations from the Otakikpo Marginal Field in the Delta region of Nigeria, announced that the well testing program on the Otakikpo-002 well was successful. According to the company, the well flowed oil from two upper zones all through the two production tests which was concluded on April 10, 2016.  The C5 zone flowed at a maximum rate of 6,404 bpd at a 36/64”...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced that the Port Harcourt Refinery, has resumed the production of petrol after it was shut down some months back. According to the Group General Manager, Public Affairs of the NNPC, Garuba Deen Muhammad, the refinery presently produces about five million litres of petrol per day ever since it began operations last week and the...

  Journalist Hassan Hanafi, who joined al-Shabab was executed on April 11, 2016 at the Mogadishu Police Academy in Somalia. He was condemned for his involvement in the murder of at least five Somali journalists between 2007 and 2010. Hassan Hanafi confessed his crimes, according to Abdulahi Hussein, an executive from the military court, cited by French Press Agency (AFP). Hassan Hanafi...

World Bank injected $29.65 million in the Menengai geothermal project, in Kenya. The bank’s arm Climate Investment Fund carried out the transaction. The loan was guaranteed by six financial institutions: African Development, Asian Development Bank, European Reconstruction and Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank. “Kenya is...

The Houndé gold mine in Burkina Faso, owned at 90% by Canadian mining company Endeavour, entered construction stage after the firm’s board gave its approval. The firm which started with the licences it had earthworks, said construction works would begin by the end of this month. The company was expected to produce at the Houndé project 190,000oz/yr over a ten-year mine life at a global cost...

In South Africa, Illovo Sugar’s shareholders received a new bid from British firm Associated British Foods (ABF). The new offer outweighs the R20/share offer that the British firm who has a 51% stake in Illovo, and wants to acquire the remaining shares, submitted last February. As share’s price surpassed its offer, ABF was forced to raise it to R25/share. The new offer has already been...

Nigerian Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, confirmed news about Panda bonds mentioned by Reuters last month. He said his country, Africa’s top GDP ranked economy, plans to issue Panda bonds (issued and subscribed in Yuan Renminbi, China’s currency) to plug its budget deficit. “The opportunity now, with the renminbi being a reserve currency, we are looking obviously at the lowest cost of...

Singaporean trader Olam has entered Nigeria’s animal feed industry. The group just announced it has injected about $150 million to develop a hatchery, poultry breeding farms, and two animal feed mills. It should be Nigeria’s biggest animal feed project. The infrastructures will be established in Kaduna and Kwara states. Kaduna will host the hatchery, poultry breeding farms and a feed...