Although the exact number of casualties has not been independently confirmed, sources in Abyei said more than 20 people had been killed in fighting between the Dinka and Misseriya. The south claims the Khartoum government instigated the fighting to put pressure on negotiations and undermine the secession referendum process, which will deliver a massive majority in favour of secession.
Issue 202 - 4 February 2011
Energy officials have warned of power cuts following a breakdown at the 150MW Azito thermal plant. Ministry of Mines and Energy director general of energy Simon Eddy, told business representatives Azito had been out of action since 22 December and was unlikely to be fixed before late April or early May.
Issue 180 - 5 February 2010
Long dismissed as a minor oil producer lacking access to the Gulf of Guinea’s prolific deep waters, Cameroon has high hopes of harnessing its gas for domestic use and export to boost its moribund economy, writes Thalia Griffiths, recently in Yaoundé
Issue 180 - 5 February 2010
A Canadian junior’s project to redevelop a significant cluster of oilfields alongside two state companies suggests it’s not just big, long-established partners that are making the running in Republic of Congo, writes Eleanor Gillespie.
Issue 160 - 3 April 2009
Its MagEnergy Inc subsidiary has “found the Democratic Republic of Congo to be a very challenging investment environment,” TSX Venture Exchange-listed MagIndustries Corporation president and chief executive William Burton told the ambitious Canadian company’s first ever investor conference call, on 17 April. But Mag is pushing on with its Inga II refurbishment work, talks to finalise contracts – originally initialled in September 2005 – for work on four more Inga II generators and plans to build a 250MW hydropower dam at Busanga in Katanga (AE 146/5-9). It is also very bullish about fund-raising and other prospects for its potash and forestry schemes in Republic of Congo, which Burton confirmed would cost around $1.1bn as currently configured – releasing data that received a respectful hearing from the 89 analysts and others who dialled into the 17 April teleconference.
Issue 161 - 24 April 2009
Gas from Eni’s Republic of Congo (ROC – Brazaville) operations, rather than electricity generated at Inga Falls in Democratic Republic of Congo, is expected to power the latest version of MagIndustries Corporation’s Kouilou minerals development.
Issue 152 - 12 December 2008
Cameroonian state company Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) has signed a production-sharing contract with Glencore and Afex Global for the gas-prone Matanda block (PH-72). Glencore, who will operate the block adjacent to Bowleven’s Etinde permit area, also has exploration acreage in Equatorial Guinea.
Issue 137 - 25 April 2008
Published in March 2012, this map of Gabon shows the location of principal roads, railways, airports and settlements. Major oil and gas pipelines, fields and tanker terminals are also marked.
- 30 April 2012
Egyptian media have stepped up their campaign against the long-term sales contracts to supply natural gas to Israel through the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG),
Issue 206 - 1 April 2011
Electricity and energy minister Hassan Younis met petroleum and mineral resources minister Sameh Fahmy in late October to confirm the supply of additional gas to the Ministry of Electricity to meet targets in 2011.
Issue 197 - 5 November 2010
Gabon has cancelled its tenth licensing round and will offer the blocks through direct negotiations. Oil minister Julien Nkoghe Bekale has also denied reports that the government is in talks to license all 42 blocks to Chinese firms
Issue 197 - 5 November 2010
Ghana’s Jubilee oilfield has been plagued by allegations of corruption dating back to beneficial ownership of companies granted licences to work on the giant oil block
Issue 195 - 8 October 2010
Sasol Petroleum International is expanding gas production from Mozambique, where the central processing facility produces 300mcf/d from the Pande and Temane fields, and a $500m expansion is under way
Issue 181 - 26 February 2010
Nearly a decade of quiet British diplomacy and adroit Libyan manoeuvring left Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill with no realistic option but to return convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali Mohammed Al-Megrahi to Libya. Any alternative would have thrown into question the whole logic of rapprochement with Libya – one of the UK’s few notable international triumphs of recent years.
Issue 169 - 4 September 2009
Taking risk on the cash-strapped utility Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has been low on anybody’s list of priorities in recent years. However, African Energy was told that Namibia Power Corporation’s deal with Zesa
Issue 147 - 4 October 2008
Sonelgaz’s president tells African Energy that ‘our differences with Dii have been resolved’ as Algeria reassesses its attitude to European mega-schemes, writes Selwa Calderbank in Brussels
Issue 222 - 16 December 2011
A consortium of France’s Vinci and the local Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) and Arab Contractors has been awarded a civil works contract
Issue 222 - 16 December 2011
With power cuts causing riots in Kampala, and the start-up of a long-awaited hydro-electric power project delayed for the fourth time this year, Uganda is in for a difficult dry season, writes Adrian J Browne
Issue 222 - 16 December 2011
Tullow Oil has agreed new production-sharing contract arrangements offshore Mauritania, where the company has identified new potential after the disappointment of the Chinguetti field. Tullow now refers to the West Africa Transform Margin play as the Mauri-Tano Trend, referring to an area
Issue 219 - 4 November 2011
Côte d’Ivoire has escalated a simmering border row with Ghana by demarcating new blocks that overlap with Ghana’s western acreage
Issue 219 - 4 November 2011
Following his controversial election victory in April, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan faces unprecedented pressure to tackle the policy failings and lapses of implementation that so many of his predecessors failed to address. Overcoming years of underdevelopment in the power sector,
Issue 216 - 23 September 2011
The Swahili coast’s upstream petroleum industry is taking shape as pirates step up their activity in an ever wider area. The US military is playing an active role, but new offshore infrastructure is vulnerable, writes Adrian J Browne. In the past 18 months, eastern Africa’s offshore gas has been put firmly on the map for international companies, but the rush of explorers taking up acreage has coincided with an unprecedented increase in piracy off Somalia. The pirates have broadened their focus in recent years, hijacking fishing vessels for use as ‘mother ships’
Issue 216 - 23 September 2011
As President Goodluck Jonathan puts the final touches to his long-awaited new cabinet, having returned staunch ally Diezani Alison-Madueke to the petroleum ministry, questions over sector reform and industry power remain. Following his re-election in April, President Goodluck Jonathan has opted for continuity rather than change in the composition of his new cabinet, with 13 ministers expected to return to their portfolios.
Issue 213 - 15 July 2011
As Tanzania’s energy crisis deepens, US developer Symbion Power has taken over the 120MW Ubungo power plant, which has been idle for nearly three years. Ubungo was previously owned by Dowans Holding, whose controversial contract was terminated in August 2008.
Issue 210 - 3 June 2011
Bermuda-registered East Africa player Dominion Petroleum has taken a 60% operating stake in offshore
Issue 206 - 1 April 2011
Fuel pricing will be reviewed as the company sues government over the cancellation of a fuel supply contract, writes Our Windhoek Correspondent. Glencore Energy has made good on its legal threats and sued the Mines and Energy Ministry to re-instate its contract to provide half of the country’s estimated 750,000 t/yr liquid fuel requirements (AE 197/20).
Issue 206 - 1 April 2011
