World oil demand continued to slow down in the first quarter to 1.6 million barrels per day, 120,000 barrels less than initially forecast, mainly due to developments in richer countries, Energy International (IEA) announced yesterday. In the monthly report on the oil market released yesterday, the IEA indicates that, for the whole of 2024, the increase will be 1.2 million barrels per day, a value that will fall slightly to 1.1 million in 2025, although
The World Bank has granted Nigeria’s Federal Government a $750 million loan to offer subsidies to developers and operators of solar mini-grids in areas across the country that lack electricity access. The loan, approved under the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project, aims to increase the supply of electricity to households and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) through private sector-led distributed renewable energy initiatives. The financing agreement for the loan was signed
The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) announced the unexpected resignation of CEO Ari Epstein on Thursday, as reported by the AWDC’s board of directors. While Epstein, who served as CEO for 13 years, declined to comment on the reason for his departure, Belgian financial newspaper De Tijd cited conflicts between the diamond sector and the Belgian government over Russian diamond sanctions as a possible cause. The AWDC, Belgium’s primary diamond industry group, has not yet
Namibia’s Minister of Mines and Energy revealed that TotalEnergies and Shell are likely to have discovered offshore oil and gas reserves in commercial quantities, potentially totaling billions of barrels. Both companies previously announced “significant” discoveries offshore Namibia earlier this year and are currently assessing the findings. While specific quantities were not disclosed, a Reuters source suggested that Total’s discovery exceeds 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent. These discoveries could position Namibia as the latest oil
The government of Mozambique has awarded the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) five oil and gas research and development concession contracts. The contracts were awarded as part of the country’s sixth licencing round, initiated by the Mineral Resources and Energy Ministry. Filimão Suaze, the government spokesman, emphasised that this decision aligns with Mozambique’s mineral resources policy and aims to attract more investments into the oil sector. The Council of Ministers approved the concession contracts
Equador’s interests in the Egyptian oil and gas sector resulted in the crafting of a memorandum of understanding between Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Mines. A fruitful meeting between Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Denys Toscano Amores, Ecuadorian Ambassador to Cairo, saw a positive exchange between the two countries. Oil companies from Equador are especially keen on investing in Egypt’s oil and
Libya has emerged as Africa’s top oil producer with an output of 1.24 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) in March 2024. This marks an increase of 5.4% compared to the country’s output of 1.17 million bpd in February. Announced by OPEC in its April 2024 Monthly Oil Market Report, Nigeria lost the top spot after reporting a drop of almost 91,000 bpd from 1.32 million bpd in February to 1.23 million bpd in
Africa Global Logistics (AGL) has inaugurated operations at the AGL Lobito Terminal, a versatile container and bulk goods facility situated within Angola’s Port of Lobito. This development follows AGL’s successful bid secured through an international tender process in October 2023. The terminal, with its impressive capacity to handle over one million tons of bulk goods and accommodate 100,000 TEU containers annually, marks a significant milestone in enhancing trade connectivity and logistics efficiency in the region.
French energy giant TotalEnergies and Algeria’s state-owned Sonatrach have inked a deal to collaborate on the appraisal and development of gas resources in Algeria’s Timimoun region. The agreement aims to leverage existing processing facilities from the Timimoun field, marking a strategic partnership between the two entities. Julien Pouget, Senior Vice President Middle East & North Africa, Exploration & Production at TotalEnergies, expressed enthusiasm about expanding their partnership with Sonatrach through this Memorandum of Understanding. The
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh has appointed Dr. Khalifa Abdulsadek to oversee the country’s Ministry of Oil and Gas. The appointment follows the suspension of Libya’s former Minister of Oil and Gas Mohammed Aoun on March 25. Having served as the CEO of local service provider Murzuq Oil Services and having held a position on the board of director for exploration at the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), Dr. Abdulsadek brings over 20 years of
