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AFDB: Support for energy fund; Japanese to establish new financing facility

London-based major businessman Jan Kulczyk is looking to increase his Africa interests through Canada’s Loon Energy in which he holds a 39% stake.

Lootah Group has joined the quiet flow of Gulf investors who are buying into fractured Somalia and its constituent parts. Despite the piracy and civil war now making global headlines, some areas are still seen by some as ‘virgin territories’ ripe for exploration and investment.

Puntland pioneer Range Resources has taken exception to an article in Melbourne daily The Age that said ruling clans in the territory were linked to the recent upsurge in piracy, including the hijack of the Saudi Aramco-owned supertanker Sirius Star, carrying an estimated $100m worth of oil.

Cristina Dias was sworn in as São Tomé and Príncipe’s oil minister on 11 November, the fourth person to hold the position since June 2008 and the latest indication of political uncertainty in the island state – which has yet actually to find oil (AE 149/14).

Rumour has it that there is infighting between Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy and Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali over tax revenues, while Fahmy is understood to generally not be very popular with any of the ministers. One industry source said: “a lot of the ministers

Tensions between the Ministry of Petroleum and Ministry of Defence continue, mainly over the military’s demand for a greater share of oil revenues, but recent events suggest that a more personal power struggle has emerged.

Reshuffle has brought some new faces onto the energy scene, but old guard remain in key posts

Debate rumbles on over how hard the global financial turmoil will hit Africa, but some things apparently never change. Angola’s Sonangol

For long a significant player in project finance and emerging markets, BNP Paribas (BNPP) has become a bigger force still on the Africa and Middle East energy scene with the acquisition

Five Chinese oil workers taken hostage in South Kordofan have been killed by their captors, according to the Sudanese foreign ministry.

While banks are pulling in their credit, development finance institutions continue to expand their operations in sub-Saharan Africa. Kevin Godier talked to Germany’s DEG about a positive trend.

Among bankers there is more mystery surrounding Angola’s financing plans than there is about the identity of President José Eduardo dos Santos’ pick as his new petroleum minister. Ex-energy and water minister José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos has replaced Desidério da Graça Verissimo e Costa at the Ministry of Oil in the much-anticipated post-election reshuffle (AE 146/25).

Despite its corruption, violence and lack of political cohesion, Nigeria remains one of the best credit risks that are offered to insurers, according to a senior political risk insurance (PRI) underwriter in the Lloyd’s of London market. “It’s a good market, which has never thrown out any credit risk losses,” he said. However, capacity for Nigeria among

IFC: New director for environment and social development; JAPAN: JICA expansion