West Africa

Sources say that Niger has ordered three Chinese oil officials to leave the country.

Two sources familiar with this decision said on Friday that the Niger junta had ordered three Chinese oil officials to leave the country. This is the latest step taken by regional military governments in an effort to gain greater control over their resources. Sources said that the request for the departure from Niger of the directors of China National Petroleum Corporation, West African Oil Pipeline Company and joint venture SORAZ oil refinery was made Wednesday. One source close to government confirmed that the Chinese officials had left the country on Friday. Another source close to the companies involved said that
Transportation

Nigeria's electricity generation increases 30% with grid upgrade
Nigeria LNG operates at only a third capacity due to theft

Nigeria LNG, one of the world's largest gas exporters, operates at just a third its full capacity because thieves have illegally connected key pipelines for gas supply, said the chief executive on Tuesday. Philip Mshelbila said at the Nigerian International Energy Summit held in Abuja, that currently only two of six processing trains run because three gas pipelines are being repaired. He said that the three pipelines are the largest lines that supply NLNG gas. In Nigeria's oil rich delta, illegal refining and theft of gas and oil are rampant. Both locals and more sophisticated criminal gangs tap pipelines. Mshelbila
Transport Infrastructure

Sources say that Ivory Coast Customs seizes 2,000 tons falsely declared cocoa bean.
Nigeria's NNPC and Stena Bulk launch new shipping venture

Nigeria's State Oil Company NNPC announced on Tuesday a joint venture to revamp maritime transportation in West Africa with Swedish tanker giant Stena Bulk, and Nigerian offshore logistic leader Caverton Marine. The newly formed company is expected to streamline crude oil, refined product and LNG shipping throughout West Africa. It will also cater to other oil traders and producers in the region using modern vessels. The deal was signed last Thursday, but the financial details were not disclosed. In a press release, Panos Gliatis said that by combining the expertise of Stena Bulk with Caverton Marine we will create a
West Africa

Taiwan seizes a cargo ship linked to China after an undersea cable is disconnected

Taiwan's Coast Guard said that it had detained a cargo ship with a China connection on Wednesday, after an undersea cable connecting the Penghu Islands to the Taiwan Strait in the sensitive area was cut. Taiwan, which China claims to be its territory, has complained repeatedly about Chinese activities in the "grey zones" around the island. These include balloon overflights, sand dredging, and other methods of pressure without direct confrontation. Taipei became alarmed when a ship with a Chinese connection was suspected to have damaged another cable in the first half of this year. The navy and other agencies stepped
Sources say that three tankers were damaged in the Mediterranean last month by explosions of unknown causes.

Transport Infrastructure

Urals differentials the same, winter season weather weighs on shipping expenses

Urals crude differentials to dated Brent were unchanged on Monday, while bad winter season weather begun to push shipping costs for oil freights up, traders said. Delivering costs increased due to rising delays in Turkish straits, traders stated. On Monday delays for passing by means of Bosphorus and Dardanelles increased to 810 days for a oneway trip, according to Riverlake company. . Traders also expected freight rates to increase for Russian oil. filling from its northern ports amidst ice class requirements for. vessels due to upcoming difficult ice conditions. PLATTS WINDOW * No bids or deals were revealed for Urals,...

Transport Infrastructure

Ivory Coast cocoa exporters fear drop in products after poor weather condition

Multinational cocoa exporters running in Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa manufacturer, fear a. drop in products from farmers in the coming months after negative. weather struck crops, raising the prospect that a few of them might. default on contracts. Up until now this season, the volume of beans getting to ports is. up 34% on the very same time in 2023-24. But last season was the. worst in a years, according to the director of a European. purchaser, speaking on condition of anonymity. If you compare arrivals to 2022, a regular season, we are. 15% below that. That means...

Transport Infrastructure

Biden's long-awaited Africa trip to tout a win versus China

Joe Biden headed to Angola on Sunday for a journey that will provide on a pledge to go to Africa during his presidency and focus on a. significant U.S.-backed railway task that intends to divert crucial. minerals far from China. The job, partially funded with a U.S. loan, links the. resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the. Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean, offering a quick. and effective path for exports to the West. At stake are vast materials of minerals like copper and. cobalt, which are discovered in Congo and are an essential element of....

Transport Infrastructure

Traders using STS transfers near Senegal to export Russian naphtha to Brazil, data shows

Traders are using shiptoship loadings near the Senegalese port of Dakar to manage Russian naphtha exports to Brazil, market sources stated and LSEG data shows. Because a complete European Union embargo on Russian oil items went into effect in February 2023, the bulk of Russia's naphtha has actually been rerouted somewhere else. Loadings to larger vessels help to accelerate tanker turnover and reduce freight costs on long routes through the Atlantic Ocean, traders stated. STS transfers have likewise end up being more appealing considering that recent Western sanctions on some foreign vessels carrying Russian oil products restricted the variety of...

Transport Infrastructure

In Mali, at least seven Russian mercenaries were killed

Site Intelligence Group said that at least seven mercenaries of the Wagner private military contractor group from Russia were killed in a central Mali attack, which was claimed by a group affiliated with al Qaeda North Africa. Wagner suffered heavy losses during a battle in July with mainly Tuareg rebels, and Islamists at the border of Mali with Algeria. This battle exposed the dangers that mercenaries who work for military juntas face in West Africa’s Sahel Region. Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger struggle to contain powerful Islamic State and Al Qaeda offshoots that have occupied large swathes in the Sahel...

Transport Infrastructure

Senegal's urban cycling pattern offers possibility to improve green transport

Medical professional Philip Moreira's commute to health center on an electric bike is a hazardous, smoginfused weave through the disorderly traffic of Senegal's capital Dakar. Moreira, 58, is part of a little however budding community of city bicyclists that have ended up being a more common sight in current years, zipping around Dakar's gridlock for exercise and fun, signalling a shift in the city's transport characteristics. Biking groups have actually never ever had numerous members, and state authorities are not doing enough to turn the growing interest in bicycles into strategies to minimize blockage and carbon emissions. Moreira's club Velo...

Transport Infrastructure

Cocoa arrivals to reach 1 million tons by end-January, CCC sources state

Cocoa arrivals at ports in leading grower Ivory Coast are expected to reach 1 million metric tons by the end of January, two sources from the Coffee and Cocoa Council stated, simply short of in 2015's estimated level. Arrivals given that the start of the season on Oct. 1 at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro were up 26% year-on-year at 365,000 metric heaps by Nov. 3, exporters stated on Monday, volumes with which sources stated the marketplace regulator was satisfied. However due to the fact that of consistent rains and floods, brown rot, a. fungal disease that assaults...

Transport Infrastructure

Cocoa arrivals to reach 1 million tons by end-January, CCC sources state

New York Times service news - Oct 25

TheThe following are the leading stories on the New York Times organization pages. Reuters has not validated these stories and does not vouch for their precision. - Onion recall linked to E. Coli and McDonald's. spread to other junk food chains including Taco Bell, KFC,. Burger King and Pizza Hut, who have stopped serving onions at. various places. Federal regulators have actually not validated the. source of the break out, which has up until now eliminated a single person and. sickened 49. - Southwest Airlines will select six brand-new directors. as part of a truce with Elliott Financial investment Management,...

Rainy roads slow arrivals of cocoa at Ivory Coast ports

Exporters and buyers say that the damage caused by heavy rains in Ivory Coast’s west, southwest, and coastal regions hampers harvesting, drying, and transporting cocoa beans from ports. Six exporters, six buyers and five cooperatives said that cocoa arrivals in ports have decreased and the quality has deteriorated. Hamed Coulibaly who purchases cocoa from the regions of Duekoue Guiglo and Man said, "Since last week, we've noticed a return of heavy rains which have blocked roads and rendered village tracks completely impassable." He claimed that he had not been able yet to recover the 60 metric tonnes of the commodity...

China signs electrical power, infrastructure handle Chad and Senegal

China has signed multiple arrangements with Chad and Senegal involving jobs ranging from electrical energy and facilities to drinking water and communications technology at the Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation in Beijing, the nations' presidencies said on Wednesday. The world's greatest bilateral loan provider, which is hosting 50 African nations, wants to re-align its relations with establishing economies around President Xi Jinping's brand-new mantra of little and gorgeous projects, instead of big-ticket infrastructure. Leading Chinese companies and institutions have actually signed six memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Chad in the energy, water, farming, infrastructure and defence sectors, the Main African country's...

Passenger Transportation Services

At least 69 migrants killed in shipwreck off Morocco on deadly path to Spain

At least 69 people passed away after a boat headed from West Africa to the Canary Islands capsized off Morocco on Dec. 19, Malian authorities said, as data revealed deaths of migrants attempting to reach Spain surged to an alltime high in 2024. The makeshift boat was bring around 80 individuals when it capsized. Only 11 survived, the Ministry of Malians Abroad said in a statement on Thursday, after collecting info to reconstruct the occurrence. A crisis unit has actually been established to monitor the scenario, it included. The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to Spain's...