Search results

The governments of Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to renegotiate the terms under which Juba exports its oil, according to officials from the two countries. Transit fees of almost $25/bbl, combined with the drop in the global oil price and the discount at which Dar Blend crude trades, meant that South Sudan faced selling its oil at a loss. Output dropped sharply, heralding a possible shutdown and requiring an urgent renegotiation of transit terms.

Italy’s Saipem has said it could lose up to €500m ($653m) in payments due from Algeria because of an investigation into allegations that it paid bribes to win contracts. Chief executive Umberto Vergine said on 23 April, “we are having some difficulties to get recent payments and the worst-case scenario is we won’t get these payments.” Saipem said it had been informed that an Algerian court had extended its investigation, but added it had no details on the state of the case or the people involved.

The Office of the Ombudsman has said that the names of those convicted of embezzlement of public funds may soon be made public. The office already releases the names of those found guilty of low-level corruption – farmers, taxi drivers, local defence personnel – but is under pressure to reveal those found guilty of bigger crimes. 


The heads of two companies involved in the Independent Power Tanzania Ltd (IPTL) power plant saga are jointly facing charges of economic sabotage, forgery, impersonation, running a criminal syndicate, obtaining money by false pretence, and causing loss of money to the government.Pan Africa Power Solutions chairman Harbinder Singh Sethi and VIP Engineering managing director James Rugemalira appeared in Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court in Dar es Salaam on 19 June to hear the charges

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) temporarily suspended the Democratic Republic of Congo on 17 April, saying its reports were not up to standard in terms of full disclosure and the reliability of the figures. EITI national co-ordinator Mack Dumba Jeremy has said that tax authorities have failed to account for $88m in revenue from the mining sector.

Zesco has set up a team headed by cabinet secretary Roland Msiska to implement proposed reforms to the utility, though concrete action is unlikely until after the 2021 presidential and general elections. The cabinet commissioned a diagnostic study in 2017 which made a list of recommendations.A source at the Ministry of Energy said the study recommended that Zesco be split into separate generation, transmission and distribution units. The report also called on the government to rein in Zesco’s wage bill, which absorbs 65% of revenues.

Karim Wade, son of former president Abdoulaye Wade, is to go on trial in June on charges of corruption. Karim, a former minister for international co-operation, infrastructure, air transport and energy, was accused in 2013 of amassing a personal fortune of some $1.4bn, accumulated while his father was in office between 2000 and 2012. He has been in prison on remand for over a year. Abdoulaye Wade, who went into self-imposed exile after his 2012 election defeat, arrived in Senegal on 25 April after two years in Versailles, to show support for his son, and to campaign in upcoming local elections on behalf of his Parti Démocratique Sénégalais.

Having suddenly declared force majeure in Guinea, nearly six months after the US Department of Justice launched a corruption probe into its partner Hyperdynamics, Tullow is playing up its transparency credentials. Its annual report published on 24 March includes project-by-project reporting of payments, making it the first oil company to disclose such detail in every country in which it operates. The significance of this is huge. The American Petroleum Institute (API) in September 2012 sued the US Securities and Exchange Commission in an attempt to avoid disclosing project-level payments, and API members are lobbying against tougher reporting standards in the EU and elsewhere.

A total of 53 individuals and companies have now been charged over corruption at Kenya Power in a case that has become increasingly politicised. Among those charged are 11 current and former managers, including former managing director and chief executive Ben Chumo and current acting managing director and chief executive Ken Tarus. Tarus has been replaced by Jared Omondi Othieno, who had been acting general manager for street lighting. Another five managers have been suspended.

Erin Energy Corporation has announced the resignation of chief executive Segum Omidele after less than a year in the post. The company, formerly Camac Energy, gave no explanation for the move. Senior vice-president, general counsel and secretary Jean-Michel Malek will serve as interim chief executive with effect from 22 February, while the board seeks a permanent replacement. Omidele served in various positions with the company from September 2011 and was chief operating officer from September 2015 until his appointment as chief executive in May 2016.

Peter Bosshard left campaign group International Rivers on 22 December and will take up a new position on 1 February as director of the finance programme of the Sunrise Project, leading a new campaign to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy. Under Bosshard’s leadership, International Rivers has campaigned vigorously against large dam projects in Africa. The NGO has been a staunch critic of the Inga scheme in Democratic Republic of Congo, which it argues will not benefit most Congolese, and has gathered evidence of the problems encountered by communities resettled as part of Sudan’s Merowe dam project.

Pancontinental Oil & Gas has agreed to pay a disputed cash call to Tullow Oil to avoid a default, but continues to contest the payment. The company said in December that it had received a cash call for $552,897 for administration and other “non-exploration” costs in Walvis Basin PEL 37 for 2014 to 2016 (AE 337/15). Pancontinental said it believed the sums were covered under the free carry agreed when Tullow farmed into the licence, but the joint operating agreement stipulated payment to avoid a possible default situation, and then resolution of any disputes later.

A grand jury has indicted Sable Mining chief executive Andrew Groves and seven other people following a damning report from Global Witness outlining the business model followed by Groves and his business partner, former England cricketer Phil Edmonds.President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered an inquiry in May into Sable’s unsuccessful attempt to acquire an iron ore concession in northern Liberia after the report accused the company of bribing public officials.

AIM-listed Wentworth Resources announced on 13 November that chief executive Eskil Jersing was stepping down from the board and leaving the company with immediate effect. Jersing joined Wentworth in June 2018 with a mandate to drive the business forward, but the share price has declined steadily since then.

Western governments are determined to interdict the Indian-flagged tanker containing a cargo of Libya crude sold to an Emirati buyer by the Cyrenaica-based parallel management of National Oil Corporation (NOC). On 27 April, the vessel was located in waters south-east of Malta, having been turned back by the authorities in Valletta the previous day. Failure to prevent it from unloading the cargo and completing the transaction in defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution banning unauthorised crude exports would destroy the credibility of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).