Oil Market Archives - African Financial & Economic Data

28 Mar

Nigeria’s Sahara Revives IPO as It looks to Pump More Oil

Nigerian energy conglomerate Sahara Group Ltd. said it revived plans for a share-sale as it looks to increase oil production four-fold to 100,000 barrels per day.

Lagos-based Sahara mulled an initial public offering in the Nigerian commercial capital and London in 2015, before falling crude prices forced it to backtrack.

“The IPO is now back on the table,” Tonye Cole, Sahara’s executive director and co-founder, said in an interview in Kigali, Rwanda. “After we made the announcement then, the entire market crashed, oil prices went down, and so we put the plans on hold.”

Cole didn’t provide a timeframe or say how much he wanted to raise. In 2015, he said he would look to sell as much as 25 percent of Sahara for $600 million.

Read the full article @Bloomberg

09 May

Oil prices seem to be ignoring OPEC’s efforts to cut global supply

OPEC a non-member oil producers have announced plans to extend a global supply cut deal agreed in December until at least the end of 2017.

This comes after brent crude hit a six-month low of $46.64 last week amid a persistent glut driven by booming US shale oil production. Seeking to calm market Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih has said the coalition is ready to do “whatever it takes” to return stocks to levels five years ago.

The extension encapsulates the deal’s failure to meet is core objective of boosting depressed prices. Despite an initial uptick seeing Brent crude breach the mid-fifties in January they have remained volatile, and are now effectively back to where they were before the agreement.

All of this is bad news for big African producers like Nigeria and Angola, which have seen growth and investment hit hard and their reform efforts stifled by the commodities slump.

The International Energy Agency’s monthly outlook on oil demand is due on Tuesday. Oil exporters will be watching closely, hoping it could signal an end to the supply glut. Any reprieve looks likely to be temporary.

15 Mar

The Russian Carbon Fund, Aera Group pioneer the first worldwide carbon credit transaction using blockchain technology in DAO IPCI

Aera Group and the Russian Carbon Fund also announced a partnership to provide Russian buyers with direct and long term access to high quality African carbon credits

PARIS, France, March 14, 2017/APO/ —

Pilot transaction was executed on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 8:00 am (UTC+1:00) between the Russian Carbon Fund on the buying side and Aera Group, the largest supplier of African carbon credits, on the selling side in the DAO IPCI blockchain ecosystem with IT support of Airlab.
The Verified Carbon Units acquired by Russian Carbon Fund are intended to offset carbon footprint in Russia and internationally, by airline passengers, in particular.
Transaction rewards 1 year of blockchain application for carbon markets development undertaken by DAO IPCI team of blockchain and environmental markets experts.
The new CO2 exchange / blockchain platform will ensure more transparency, integrity and lower transaction costs for buyers and sellers of carbon credits and other environmental mitigation outcomes.
DAO IPCI has and ongoing working relationship with Backer McKenzie on the structure of the CO2 blockchain platform and transactions on the CO2 blockchain.
The initiative aims at raising and catalyzing pre-compliance and voluntary CO2 offsets demand and support the emergence of a Russian carbon market.
Russia is close to ratification the Paris Agreement and hopefully shall work on ambitious targets to reduce CO2 emissions under the Agreement, and corporates can offset their emissions and reach carbon neutrality thanks to carbon credits.
Aera Group and the Russian Carbon Fund also announced a partnership to provide Russian buyers with direct and long term access to high quality African carbon credits.

Anton Galenovich, Chairman of the Council of the Russian Carbon Fund: “The platform developers’ idea is to provide common space for fair competition, provide early crediting, offsetting carbon footprint opportunities for the companies, and break the barriers dividing locations and types of high quality mitigation outcomes. Russian market mechanisms are in the trial pilot phase and may have significant offsetting capacity on the supply and the demand side in near future. Russian carbon credits developed and assured under strict requirements of the Integrated Program for Climate Initiatives are still under verification process to be issued in DAO IPCI ecosystem”.

Alexey Shadrin, CEO and Founder of the Russian Carbon Fund: “We have just witnessed a truly historical moment for the global low carbon economy – the first ever blockchain based climate deal. I am sure that our successful joint effort will mark the beginning of a new era of climate cooperation between nations and help the world reach sustainable development goals”.

Fabrice Le Saché, Aera Group Executive Chairman: “We strongly believe that Russia will become a key player of the international climate transition in the years to come. Beyond environment, this is a matter of economic competition and performance as it drives innovation. We are pleased to pioneer a market and a technology at same time. We expect to connect Russian corporates with charismatic African CO2 offset projects yielding mitigation and adaptation benefits”.

Max Gutbrod, Partner at Baker McKenzie: “Blockchain technology is ideal to increase transparency in carbon markets; we are therefore pleased and honored to be acquainted with Blockchain Ecosystem and looking forward to further contribute it to reach its global potential”.

Ivan Panov, partner at Causa Privata Law Firm: “We have seen a huge number of transactions and projects involving carbon markets and carbon credits. But this particular project is literally a pioneer, for it is based on the technology and approaches which have been never used before. This may become a real breakthrough solution for the implementation of climate projects and their financing”. […]

Read the full story here: APO

26 Jan

Loopholes in Mali’s Export Tax Regime make it a Magnet for the Illicit Trade of Gold in West Africa

Mali’s taxation practices applicable to gold exports have turned the country into West Africa’s illicit gold trading hub, Partnership Africa Canada (www.PACweb.org) said in a report published today.

The report, The West African El Dorado: Mapping the Illicit Trade of Gold in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Burkina Faso, investigates challenges in the governance of artisanal gold mining in the three countries—and the vulnerabilities posed by the illicit trade of gold on the region.

The investigation finds that all countries have taken important steps towards encouraging legal trade of artisanal gold—a sector which employs an estimated three million miners in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Burkina Faso—such as the harmonization of export taxes at 3%. Yet, Partnership Africa Canada found that Mali’s application of export taxes to only the first 50kg of gold per month is promoting smuggling, as traders bring gold over the border into Mali to get a large tax break.

“Mali’s harmful implementation of tax laws is cause for concern in the region, as it actively drives the illicit trade of gold. Mali’s neighbours are missing out on important revenue from taxes as traders smuggle gold over borders to take advantage of the tax break,” said Joanne Lebert, Partnership Africa Canada’s Executive Director.

“Importantly, export statistics from Mali are painting a worrying trend and it is up to international refiners and buyers to exercise additional due diligence on gold exported from the country to ensure the gold is clean,” added Lebert.

An analysis of gold production and trade statistics in Mali, as well as declared imports from the United Arab Emirates of Malian gold spotlighted major inconsistencies in the declared data. Over a four year period, UAE imports of Malian gold successively exceeded Mali’s entire gold production. Mali declared 40 tonnes of gold produced in 2013—while UAE declared 49.6 tonnes imported. In 2014, the figure rose with Mali declaring production at 45.8 and UAE declaring 59.9 in Malian gold imports.

Since much of Mali’s industrial production is exported to Swiss and South African refiners, Partnership Africa Canada found little explanation for the discrepancy. The extent of the illicit gold trade in Mali raises concerns about regional peace and stability and highlights the need for refining centres to exercise additional due diligence on imports.

Partnership Africa Canada calls on Mali to undertake a comprehensive review of its tax regime to address the loopholes that make it magnet for gold produced in West Africa. Additionally, the report calls on the Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre in the UAE to ban hand-carried imports of gold and demonstrate greater oversight over gold imports.

The report also calls on gold producing countries in West Africa to harmonize policies and practices in the gold sector through a Regional Approach, similar to that currently being implemented in the Mano River Union on diamond governance.

Distributed by APO on behalf of Partnership Africa Canada (PAC).

10 Jan

Nigeria Reclaims Africa’s Top Oil Producer Spot

By Chineme Okafor in Abuja

Nigeria may have reclaimed its position as Africa’s top oil producer which it lost to fellow African oil producer, Angola earlier in March 2016.

According to the December 2016 Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), crude oil production from Nigeria rose slightly above that of Angola even before the January 2017 planned production cut agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC producers.
Angola would be expected to cut about 78,000 barrels per day (bd) of its production in the agreement which was sealed in late 2016.

But secondary sources in the MOMR indicated that in November, Nigeria and Angola produced 1.692 million barrels (mb) of oil apiece. Similarly, information from primary sources in the MOMR stated that Nigeria produced 1.782mb of oil as against Angola’s 1.688mb to show its takeover of Angola by about 94,000bd.

“According to secondary sources, OPEC crude oil production in November increased by 151tb/d compared to the previous month to average 33.87mb/d. Crude oil output increased the most in Angola, Nigeria and Libya, while production in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia showed the largest decline.
“A new OPEC-14 production target of 32.5mb/d as per 1 January 2017 represents a reduction of around 1.2mb/d from October production levels,” said OPEC’s December MOMR.

Earlier in the year when Nigeria lost its position as Africa’s largest producer, its output fell to about 1.677mb, as against Angola’s 1.782mb then.

The development was made possible by repeated attacks on Nigerian oil infrastructure by militants in the Niger Delta. This dragged the country’s daily oil production down by about 700,000bd as reported by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in July, and further confirmed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
Though Nigeria is still far from recovering to its full capacity, it has also secured a production cap exemption from the rest of OPEC and non-OPEC members on the basis of the attacks on her oil infrastructure.

The Niger Delta Avengers, which is majorly responsible for the production disruption, claimed it was fighting for socioeconomic equality in the region. Although, the group and other militants in the region agreed to a ceasefire against further attacks in September 2016, they have however indicated their intentions to resume hostilities following their claims of government’s indifference to their demands.

While a committee responsible for monitoring whether the agreed upon cuts by OPEC and non-OPEC members are being made will meet in Vienna on 21 and 22 January to hash out a way to monitor compliance with the deal, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Venezuela are already honouring the commitment to cut output.