West Africa

Two customs sources, and one judicial resource, said that Ivory Coast customs seized around 2,050 metric tons (2,000 metric tonnes) of falsely-declared cocoa beans valued at around $19,000,000 in its main port Abidjan on Tuesday. Cocoa, which is the main ingredient of chocolate, is smuggled across the western border between Ivory Coast and Guinea, where the traffickers pay more than the local farm gate price. Last week, Ivorian Customs found that an exporter of cocoa had falsely declared to pay a lower tax at the port. Customs officers familiar with the case said that 110 containers were seized, which according...

According to industry sources, and LSEG ship-tracking information, Russia's Baltic Sea Port of Ust-Luga resumed fuel exports Tuesday following a tanker that ran aground after a weekend explosion in its engine-room. After the explosion, a Suezmax tanker named Koala that was carrying 130,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil ran into trouble near a berth in the Ust-Luga terminal. According to the Russian Ministry of Transport, no one from the crew was injured. On Tuesday, the ministry said that divers were inspecting the vessel and had not detected any fuel leaks. It added that the incident had been investigated. According to...

The arrival of cocoa at Ivory Coast ports increased during the week ending February 2 in comparison to the previous season. However, exporters claimed on Monday that the beans were not in good condition due to inadequate storage. West African nation has increased its efforts to prevent bean smuggling into neighbouring Guinea, and Liberia, where traffickers are paying higher prices than the local farm gate price for cocoa. Exporter in Abidjan, the capital of the West African nation, said that the tightening border security makes it harder for cocoa to escape. He added that this provides an incentive to ship...

The cocoa arrivals in ports of Ivory Coast, the top cocoa producer in the world, increased sharply from the previous week in the week ending Jan. 26, as efforts to combat beans smuggling pay off. An official with the Cocoa Sector Regulator CCC announced this on Monday. Between Jan. 20-26, approximately 27,000 metric tonnes of beans were shipped to Abidjan and 25,000 to San Pedro for a combined total of 52,000 metric tons. 34,000 tonnes in Exporters' data showed that the week prior was a busy one. In the same week last season, around 53,000 tonnes of beans were delivered....

Operations at a Red Sea port in Yemen utilized for aid imports have actually fallen to about a quarter of its capability, a UN official stated on Tuesday, including it was not particular that a Gaza ceasefire would end attacks in between the Iranbacked Houthis and Israel. Houthis have actually launched attacks on worldwide shipping near Yemen because November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This has triggered Israel to strike port and energy facilities, consisting of the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. ( The) effect of airstrikes on Hodeidah...

Rains were limited in the majority of leading grower Ivory Coast's primary cocoa areas last week and more are needed to improve the ApriltoSeptember midcrop, farmers said on Monday. Ivory Coast, the world's leading producer of the main component in chocolate, has its dry season from mid-November to March when rainfall is poor. Cocoa prices hit record highs last month buoyed by worries that dry weather in West Africa might lead to a 4th successive global deficit this season. Farmers informed Reuters that as flowers and cherelles, which develop into cocoa pods, were proliferating on trees more wetness was required...

Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut and Singaporebased food group Olam have been buying fewer cocoa beans from Ivory Coast because midDecember after an increase in port costs at Abidjan and San Pedro, industry sources said on Thursday. 7 cocoa purchasers based in the regions of Soubre, San Pedro, Duékoué and Meagui informed Reuters they are charging exporters, including smaller operators, more than an authorities cap in order to benefit from an increase in international cocoa rates towards record levels. We have actually needed to decrease our cocoa purchases in the bush because mid-December due to the fact that of price...

China Development Bank has released a $254.76 million loan to Nigeria for a railway task linking the 2 northern states of Kano and Kaduna, the bank stated, ahead of a check out to the West African country by China's. leading diplomat this week. As part of his yearly New Year tour of Africa, China's. Foreign Minister Wang Yi will arrive in Nigeria on Wednesday. and fulfill President Bola Tinubu and senior federal government officials. on Thursday, Nigeria's foreign affairs ministry said. Construction of the Kaduna-to-Kano rail task, which is. anticipated to cost $973 million, has been slowed by financing. delays....

Morocco's top port operator Marsa Maroc will invest a concealed amount in Damerjog Oil FZE, which is planning to develop an oil and gas port on Djibouti's Gulf of Aden coast, according to a Moroccan government decree seen on Monday. Marsa Maroc has actually created a subsidiary, Marsa Maroc International Logistics, which will run a special offshoot called Marsa Djibouti to manage the Damerjog financial investment, according to the decree. Marsa Maroc did not right away respond to Reuters' emailed request for remark. The financial investment aims to increase Marsa Maroc's existence in east Africa's logistical supply chains, according to...

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,...

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...

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....

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...

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...

Russian oil streams to the Czech Republic through the Druzhba pipeline were seen resuming on Friday after payment problems linked to the transit via Ukraine, which caused a halt, have been sorted, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Russian crude oil flows to the Czech Republic through the Druzhba pipeline remained halted on Thursday, extending a. blockage for unknown reasons which Czech refiner Unipetrol first. identified on Tuesday, a company spokesperson stated. Two sources with knowledge of the matter said the stop in. materials from Russia's Rosneft was the result of payments. troubles between transit country...

A minimum of 27 individuals died when a. boat capsized on the Niger River in main Nigeria, the local. emergency management agency said on Friday. The final death toll from the mishap late on Thursday. would be known once a search and rescue operation ended, stated. Sandra Musa, spokesperson for Kogi State Emergency Situation Management. Agency. So far, 27 bodies have been recuperated, however (the) rescue. operation is still ongoing, Musa informed Reuters. The boat was carrying primarily traders from Missa neighborhood in. central Kogi state heading to a weekly market in neighbouring. Niger state, a National Inland Waterways Authority...

Argentina's staterun oil company YPF will seek $2 billion in funding in the 2nd quarter of 2025 to complete its Vaca Muerta Sur job, a company source stated on Wednesday. The project is being performed by Vaca Muerta Oil Sur ( VMOS), which is managed by YPF, and intends to carry an additional 390,000 barrels daily from the Vaca Muerta development to a coastal export terminal in Rio Negro province. The source said that the company is seeking $1.5 billion from foreign investors and $500 million in your area and wishing to add Pampa Energy, Vista, Shell, Chevron and Pan...

Nigeria's national grid suffered a partial collapse on Tuesday, the state power transmitter stated, marking the ninth event this year to have triggered power outages across the nation. The Transmission Business of Nigeria (TCN) stated the grid experienced a disruption at around 1252 GMT, activated by a. series of line and generator trips destabilising the system. While some areas, including the capital Abuja, gained back. power about an hour after the collapse, blackouts continued. somewhere else. TCN engineers are currently working to quickly bring back bulk. power supply to the states impacted by the partial disturbance,. representative Ndidi Mbah said....

Togo's transport ministry suspended the ridehailing app Yango owned by Russia's tech giant Yandex, over security issues simply months after it began running in the West African country. In a statement on Thursday, the ministry stated that Yango began operating in June without permission and in offense of the country's procedures. The ministry stated the choice was taken control of concerns for the security of travelers, order and legal treatments. The activities of the operator YANGO are for that reason suspended across the entire national area, the declaration said. Yango said the ride-hailing company ran separately from Yandex and was...

Residents and a local official said that dozens of people are believed to be dead after a boat capsized in northern Nigeria carrying mostly women, children and returning from a religious event. Abdullahi Baba Arah is the head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency. He said that the accident occurred around 8:30 pm (1930 GMT), on Tuesday, when the wooden boat with almost 300 passengers went down in the River Niger. He added that rescue workers and volunteers in rural Mokwa, Niger's local government area, had rescued 150 individuals. In a press release, Arah stated that the search and...

Senegal was struck by a. nationwide electrical power failure on Thursday following an accident. at a power station in the capital, Senegal's power energy. Senelec said in a declaration. The U.S. has dedicated over half a billion dollars in current. years to upgrade Senegal's electricity grid as part of a 2018. deal to improve access to reliable power. The accident at the 90,000-volt Hann station set off a. broader interruption on an interconnection grid, interrupting electrical power. distribution throughout the nation, Senelec said. It did not provide any additional information about the accident. Because an extreme power crisis a decade...

At least 6 individuals passed away after a boat capsized off Senegal over the weekend, a spokesperson for the West African country's militaries stated on Monday. The boat - a narrow, wooden fishing vessel called a. pirogue - was bring around 100 migrants from the town of. Mbour and it overturned after only 4 km (2.5 miles) of. navigation, state broadcaster Radio Television Senegalaise (RTS). said late on Sunday. 4 people were saved but many are still missing, RTS. stated. The armed forces spokesperson told Reuters the navy had actually sent. an airplane and two boats to search for the...

CNPC is Asia's largest oil producer and it has reviewed its global strategy to revitalize dealmaking. It will focus on gas liquefaction, deepsea drilling, as well as improving its track record in producing more from aging fields. China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) & its listed subsidiary PetroChina are facing stagnant oil production at home, a lack of new projects worldwide to boost reserves and a slowing economy and a surge in EV use eroding domestic demand. However, mounting geopolitical obstacles limit their room for manoeuvre. Lu Ruquan is the director of CNPC’s Economics and Technology Research Institute and is actively...

Landlocked Niger has actually resumed petroleum exports via Benin after a dispute in between the nations halted the flow of oil through a new Chinesefunded pipeline to the West African coast, according to a pipeline company representative and ship tracking information on Wednesday. The conflict was over Niger's refusal to lift a ban on imported products from Benin, leading its coastal neighbour to block exports through the PetroChina-backed pipeline in May. In June, Niger shut off the circulation of oil through the pipeline. An agent with the West African Gas Pipeline Business (Wapco),. which operates the pipeline, told Reuters on...