Latest News
-
Nigeria's Dangote Refinery makes first gas export to Cameroon
Nigeria's Dangote Refinery said on Wednesday it has made its very first export of gas to Cameroon, a milestone that could pave way for local energy integration and aid stabilise fuel costs across the area. The 650,000 barrel refinery built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote in Lagos intends to take on European refiners when operating at full capacity and is expected to alter trading of refined items in the Atlantic basin. The business did not supply details of just how much was exported. Cameroon's energy firm Neptune Oil said in the declaration that both business were exploring new efforts to establish a trusted supply chain that will help support fuel prices and opportunities across the area. Neptune Oil said the gas supply deal was executed without intermediaries.
-
Brazil's Petrobras awards $800 mln agreement to SLB for services in offshore fields
Brazil's Petrobras has awarded an $800 million agreement to significant oilfield providers SLB for integrated services across all overseas fields operated by the staterun oil company in the country, said SLB on Wednesday. SLB will supervise the building and construction of more than 100 deepwater wells, the firm said in a declaration, as part of Petrobras' strategies to rejuvenate already efficient fields and check out new areas. The three-year contract, set to start in April, will see the company supplying services generally in the Campos, Santos, and Espirito Santo basins, stated SLB. Operations in Brazil's so-called Equatorial Margin are also prepared, stated SLB, if Petrobras obtains a long-sought license to check out there throughout the agreement period. Petrobras has actually recently increased the amount it plans to purchase exploration and production as it seeks to renew its reserves, with its strategic strategy for the 2025-2029 period earmarking $77 billion for E&P activities.
-
Why Nigeria's power grid is failing
Nigeria's national power grid is vulnerable to regular collapses, with the resulting power shortages proving a challenge to economic development and financial investment in Africa's most populated nation. The World Bank approximates that the Nigerian economy loses $29. billion a year due to its unsteady power supply, which causes. electrical power blackouts across the nation. Here is why Nigeria's grid is stopping working. WHAT CAUSES BLACKOUTS? Nigeria's aging power facilities is at the heart of the. crisis. Transmission lines and substations, some of which are. more than 40 years of ages, are prone to frequent failures. The government-owned Transmission Business of Nigeria (TCN). reports average transmission losses of 7.79 megawatts for each. 100 megawatts injected into the grid. Years of under-investment have actually left the grid susceptible to. tripping when need varies all of a sudden, stated Lagos-based. energy lawyer Ayodele Oni. Intensifying this is vandalism and attacks on transmission. infrastructure, particularly in Nigeria's north. In the last two. years, TCN taped 108 attacks on its towers and lines. GENERATION SPACE Another significant factor is that Nigeria, with a population of. more than 200 million individuals, only produces and distributes a. third of its set up generation capacity of 13,500 megawatts. And despite having the world's seventh-largest gas reserves,. Nigeria produces less than 10% of the electrical energy produced by. South Africa, a nation with a population a third the size. More than 75% of Nigeria's electrical power comes from gas-fired. power plants, mostly located in its southern region. The. rest is created by hydroelectric stations in the north. Power generation companies feed electrical power into the nationwide. grid, controlled by the federal government, which disperses it. through 11 regional distribution business to consumers. IS THERE A FIX? More than a decade after Nigeria privatised its electrical energy. sector, Nigeria's grid has actually hardly enhanced. However in 2015 the government permitted its 36 states to. create and transmit their own power. States like Lagos, the. nation's commercial hub, and 5 others have currently started. establishing independent power markets. The government is likewise dealing with the World Bank to develop. 1,000 mini solar grids to broaden power gain access to in backwoods A more resistant method is needed in Nigeria to. integrate decentralised energy sources, such as solar power. paired with storage, to complement the nationwide grid, stated. Sherisse Alexander, chief service officer at independent power. manufacturer WATT Renewable Corporation.
-
Erdogan meets Somalia, Ethiopia leaders individually amid Somaliland dispute
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held different conferences with the leaders of Somalia and Ethiopia on Wednesday as part of his efforts to resolve a. disagreement in between the two Horn of Africa neighbours at odds over. the breakaway Somaliland region. In 2 posts on X, the Turkish Presidency said Erdogan held. bilateral meetings with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Ankara. There were no. other details about the contents of the conferences. Abiy held a bilateral meeting with Erdogan and their. particular delegations, Ethiopia's Workplace of the Prime Minister. validated. Somalia's nationwide broadcaster SNTV reported Sheikh Mohamud. and Erdogan held discussions on reinforcing bilateral. relations and paving the way for a third round of talks in between. Somalia and Ethiopia, mediated by Turkey, during their bilateral. meeting. Turkey has actually so far hosted 2 rounds of conferences in between. the East African neighbours in an effort to repair their. relations. A third round of talks that had actually initially been set to. happen in September were cancelled, highlighting the stress. between the 2 countries. Somalia and Ethiopia fell out earlier this year after the. Ethiopians revealed strategies to construct a port in Somalia's. breakaway area of Somaliland, which has struggled to get. international recognition despite governing itself and enjoying. comparative peace and stability since stating independence in. 1991. Somalia is securely opposed to Somaliland's self-reliance quote. Landlocked Ethiopia, which has thousands of soldiers in. Somalia to combat al Qaeda-linked insurgents, stated it would. formally recognise Somaliland's independence in exchange for a. tactical strip of land, near where the Red Sea satisfies the Indian. Ocean. The spat has actually drawn Somalia closer to Egypt, which has. quarrelled with Ethiopia for many years over Addis Ababa's. construction of a vast hydro dam on the Nile River, and to. Eritrea, another of Ethiopia's opponents. Turkey has close ties with both Ethiopia and Somalia,. training Somalia's security forces and providing development. support in return for a grip on a crucial international shipping. path.
-
Irish High Court refers Dublin Airport seat cap to EU court
Ireland's High Court has referred a conflict over a guest cap at Dublin Airport to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), according to a. judgment provided on Wednesday. The variety of passengers at Dublin airport, which carries. around 80% of the nation's air traffic, was topped at 32. million when planners authorized the building and construction of a 2nd. terminal in 2007, in part to avoid local roadway congestion. The airport has actually warned it is on course to overshoot that by. a million travelers this year. While a planning application has. been lodged to lift the cap to 40 million, the process is commonly. anticipated to take years. A variety of airlines, consisting of Ryanair and Aer. Lingus, challenged the restriction and in November the. High Court positioned a short-term remain on the Irish Aviation. Authority (IAA) cutting the number of traveler seats available. at Dublin Airport next summer season. Ryanair has stated the cap is in breach of EU legislation on. liberty of motion. Offered the midpoint of the EU law measures involved ... it. would not be possible to resolve the proceedings without a. referral to the CJEU, Thursday's judgment said.
-
Air Canada CEO to attend to Canadian federal government hearing on carry-on baggage fees
The CEO of Air Canada will address a Canadian federal government committee panel on Friday about carryon luggage fees, according to a conference notification, after the nation's biggest provider just recently revealed such charges for some guests. Legislators in both Canada and the United States have slammed airlines in recent weeks for levying extra costs on baggage and seat projects, following an outpouring of anger by travelers on social media. Chief Executive Mike Rousseau will speak by videoconference, signing up with other airline company executives, after the carrier said last week it would charge for bigger carry-on bags from travelers going with its lowest-priced fare for North American paths starting on Jan. 3. The CEO of WestJet Airlines will likewise resolve the Standing Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities, according to a conference notification. Carry-on baggage charges will likewise be gone over throughout a. Friday meeting in between Transport Minister Anita Anand and. Canadian airline company executives ahead of the hectic winter travel. season. Previously this month, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators. called out rising airline costs following testament by executives. from American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta. Air Lines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier. Airlines nowadays view their customers as little more. than strolling piggy banks to be shaken down for every possible. dime, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who chairs the. Long-term Subcommittee on Investigations, said at the hearing.
-
Russia vows response after Ukraine utilized US-made ATACMS to strike airfield
Russia said on Wednesday that Ukraine had struck a military airfield on the Azov Sea with 6 U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic rockets, a relocation that could trigger Moscow to launch another speculative intermediate-range hypersonic rocket at Ukraine. Russia's defence ministry said 2 of the rockets fired by Ukraine were shot down by a Pantsir rocket defence system and the rest were destroyed by electronic warfare. On the early morning of December 11, 2024, the Kyiv program launched a rocket strike with Western accuracy weapons at the Taganrog military airfield in the Rostov region, the defence ministry stated. This attack by Western long-range weapons will not go unanswered and suitable steps will be taken, it said. Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile referred to as Oreshnik, or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on Nov. 21 in what President Vladimir Putin stated was a direct reaction to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with U.S. and British missiles. A U.S. authorities stated on Wednesday that Russia might launch another hypersonic ballistic missile in Ukraine in the coming days, but Washington does not consider the Oreshnik weapon a game-changer in the war. After approval from the administration of President Joe Biden, Ukraine struck Russia with six U.S.-made ATACMS on Nov. 19 and with British Storm Shadow rockets and U.S.-made HIMARS on Nov. 21. Putin, after those attacks, said that the Ukraine war was intensifying towards a worldwide conflict after the United States and Britain enabled Ukraine to strike Russia with their weapons, and warned the West that Moscow might strike back. The war is entering what some Russian and Western authorities say might be its last and most harmful stage as Moscow's forces advance at their fastest rate since the early weeks of the dispute. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month, has pushed for a ceasefire and settlements to end the war rapidly, leaving Washington's long-lasting assistance for Ukraine in concern. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine has actually left 10s of countless dead, displaced millions and triggered the greatest crisis in relations in between Moscow and the West because the 1962 Cuban Rocket Crisis.
-
Haiti announces resuming of capital's international airport
AUPRINCE, Dec 11 (Reuters) Haiti's federal government hailed the resuming of the capital's Toussaint Louverture International Airport on Wednesday, touting it in a statement as a turning point for the economy, after the hub was closed down for a month due to growing gang violence. The announcement from Haiti's aviation authority was released early Wednesday in a short post, stating that the airport had resumed regular operations, however it was unclear when the first commercial flights would resume because a U.S. regulator ban on flights from the facility remains in place until at least Thursday. Raging organized crime violence has actually struck the capital specifically hard, exacerbating a lengthened social and political crisis on the Caribbean island country, which also consisted of shots fired at business aircrafts in November that provoked carriers to suspend flights. A different declaration from Haiti's interim government dated Tuesday however released on Wednesday, noted that airport security has actually been improved to consist of new patrols and checkpoints around the center in coordination with national cops, soldiers as well as the small Kenyan-led global force backed by the United Nations. This decision becomes part of a strategic approach focused on restoring a safe environment and relaunching economic activities, according to the government statement.
China sets brand-new rules for decreasing expenses of fuel transportation by pipeline
China is introducing new guidelines from January for lowering costs of carrying oil products by pipeline, state coordinator National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Tuesday.
NDRC said in a notification on its site that under a new mechanism, it will set the optimum permitted profits level for oil product transport by state-owned China Oil and Gas Pipeline Network Corp, known as PipeChina, for three years.
PipeChina was formed in 2020 in a push to restructure the industry, expand products and reduce costs for end-users, with pipeline possessions from China's state-owned oil giants transferred to the new business.
Inter-provincial pipeline transportation rates will then be figured out through yearly consultations in between PipeChina and users.
If the parties fail to agree on a price, NDRC will set the cost based on the minimum expense of alternative transport techniques.
If the pipeline operator's annual typical income surpasses the optimum permitted profits, the excess will be subtracted.
The rule also specifies that pipeline transport rates for oil items should not go beyond those of other transport approaches, such as rail.
China is the world's biggest importer of crude oil and second-largest consumer of oil after the U.S. However its refineries are battling with low earnings margins and decreasing need.
The new mechanism is meant to lower pipeline transportation costs and guarantee the stable supply and effective shipping of refined oil products, NDRC said.
(source: Reuters)