Africa Briefs
UAE to build oil pipeline between Eritrea, Ethiopia
The United Arab Emirates will build an oil pipeline connecting Eritrea's port city of Assab with Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian state-affiliated broadcaster said.
Fana Broadcasting said the information was revealed during a meeting in Addis Ababa between Ethiopia prime minister Abiy Ahmed and Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE's state minister for international cooperation.
Fana did not provide further details. – Nampa/Reuters
Kenyan rejects sugar imports probe
Kenyan lawmakers have rejected a report by two parliamentary committees that recommended the finance minister and a cabinet colleague be investigated over their handling of sugar imports, local newspapers reported on Friday.
The privately-owned Daily Nation and Standard newspapers said lawmakers had voted on Thursday to reject the joint report by parliament's agriculture and trade and industries committees, which was submitted to parliament last week.
It recommended that finance minister Henry Rotich and Adan Mohamed, who is now East African Community minister but was previously minister for trade, industry and cooperatives, should be investigated over the sugar imports last year.
The Kenyan government has undertaken an unprecedented crackdown against what it calls illicit goods, to help boost the East African country's manufacturing sector.
The report said Rotich had authorised imports that led to a market oversupply of more than 450 000 tonnes of sugar. It said Mohamed had failed to supervise the country's standards agency, which falls under the ministry he ran, leading to imports of sugar that was not safe for human consumption. – Nampa/Reuters
Malawi tobacco revenue rises 35%
Revenue from Malawi's major export crop tobacco has risen 35% compared to last year and could exceed US$300 million by the end of the season later this month, industry data showed on Friday.
The industry regulator Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) said the increase stemmed in part from an influx of leaf imports from neighbouring Zambia and Mozambique, which Malawi sold on.
The TCC forecast production at 147 million kilogrammes against market demand of 170 million kilogrammes.
Figures released by Auction Holding Limited, the official auctioneer, showed that 164.3 million kilogrammes of tobacco had been sold at an average price of U$1.74/kg by Wednesday.
Tobacco season is helping boost the value of the local currency which on Friday traded at 717 kwacha to the US dollar compared to 750 before the market opened in February. – Nampa/Reuters
Nigerian oil refinery likely delayed
A huge oil refinery being built in Nigeria by Africa's richest man is unlikely to start production until 2022, two years later than the target date, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The 650 000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery near Lagos, set to be Africa's biggest, is expected to boost Nigeria's growth and turn the country from an importer of refined products into an exporter, transforming global trade patterns.
Billionaire Aliko Dangote, who built his fortune on cement, told Reuters last month he hoped to finish building the refinery in 2019 and to start production in early 2020.
However, the sources, who have been on the site many times, said they do not expect gasoline or diesel output before early 2022 and even then, many units at the refinery and accompanying petrochemical plant would not be complete.
Dangote Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin, who oversees the project, described the suggestion that the refinery is unlikely to start production until 2022 as the product of "someone's wild imagination". – Nampa/Reuters
Algeria's oil firm gets new management
The head of Algerian state oil firm Sonatrach has assembled a new leadership team, a senior company source said, aiming to reverse a flow of talent from an unwieldy state enterprise that keeps the country afloat.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika put US-trained Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour in charge of overhauling Sonatrach in March, 2017, after years of short-lived CEOs, fraud scandals and red tape had put foreign investors off the North African OPEC producer.
The oil giant is an important source of energy for European states trying to reduce their dependence on Russia, and it funds a major part of the budget in a country where economic security helps prevent social turbulence.
Jobs at Sonatrach are plentiful and sought-after, but, on a global scale, pay is low and depends on time served.
The CEO, who came with his own team to help win back the trust of oil majors, has now chosen eight vice presidents from within the firm, the Sonatrach source said, declining to be named because the appointments have not been made public. – Nampa/Reuters
The United Arab Emirates will build an oil pipeline connecting Eritrea's port city of Assab with Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian state-affiliated broadcaster said.
Fana Broadcasting said the information was revealed during a meeting in Addis Ababa between Ethiopia prime minister Abiy Ahmed and Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE's state minister for international cooperation.
Fana did not provide further details. – Nampa/Reuters
Kenyan rejects sugar imports probe
Kenyan lawmakers have rejected a report by two parliamentary committees that recommended the finance minister and a cabinet colleague be investigated over their handling of sugar imports, local newspapers reported on Friday.
The privately-owned Daily Nation and Standard newspapers said lawmakers had voted on Thursday to reject the joint report by parliament's agriculture and trade and industries committees, which was submitted to parliament last week.
It recommended that finance minister Henry Rotich and Adan Mohamed, who is now East African Community minister but was previously minister for trade, industry and cooperatives, should be investigated over the sugar imports last year.
The Kenyan government has undertaken an unprecedented crackdown against what it calls illicit goods, to help boost the East African country's manufacturing sector.
The report said Rotich had authorised imports that led to a market oversupply of more than 450 000 tonnes of sugar. It said Mohamed had failed to supervise the country's standards agency, which falls under the ministry he ran, leading to imports of sugar that was not safe for human consumption. – Nampa/Reuters
Malawi tobacco revenue rises 35%
Revenue from Malawi's major export crop tobacco has risen 35% compared to last year and could exceed US$300 million by the end of the season later this month, industry data showed on Friday.
The industry regulator Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) said the increase stemmed in part from an influx of leaf imports from neighbouring Zambia and Mozambique, which Malawi sold on.
The TCC forecast production at 147 million kilogrammes against market demand of 170 million kilogrammes.
Figures released by Auction Holding Limited, the official auctioneer, showed that 164.3 million kilogrammes of tobacco had been sold at an average price of U$1.74/kg by Wednesday.
Tobacco season is helping boost the value of the local currency which on Friday traded at 717 kwacha to the US dollar compared to 750 before the market opened in February. – Nampa/Reuters
Nigerian oil refinery likely delayed
A huge oil refinery being built in Nigeria by Africa's richest man is unlikely to start production until 2022, two years later than the target date, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The 650 000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery near Lagos, set to be Africa's biggest, is expected to boost Nigeria's growth and turn the country from an importer of refined products into an exporter, transforming global trade patterns.
Billionaire Aliko Dangote, who built his fortune on cement, told Reuters last month he hoped to finish building the refinery in 2019 and to start production in early 2020.
However, the sources, who have been on the site many times, said they do not expect gasoline or diesel output before early 2022 and even then, many units at the refinery and accompanying petrochemical plant would not be complete.
Dangote Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin, who oversees the project, described the suggestion that the refinery is unlikely to start production until 2022 as the product of "someone's wild imagination". – Nampa/Reuters
Algeria's oil firm gets new management
The head of Algerian state oil firm Sonatrach has assembled a new leadership team, a senior company source said, aiming to reverse a flow of talent from an unwieldy state enterprise that keeps the country afloat.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika put US-trained Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour in charge of overhauling Sonatrach in March, 2017, after years of short-lived CEOs, fraud scandals and red tape had put foreign investors off the North African OPEC producer.
The oil giant is an important source of energy for European states trying to reduce their dependence on Russia, and it funds a major part of the budget in a country where economic security helps prevent social turbulence.
Jobs at Sonatrach are plentiful and sought-after, but, on a global scale, pay is low and depends on time served.
The CEO, who came with his own team to help win back the trust of oil majors, has now chosen eight vice presidents from within the firm, the Sonatrach source said, declining to be named because the appointments have not been made public. – Nampa/Reuters
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