The environmental records of oil majors with operations in Nigeria have long been placed under scrutiny, along with investigations into corruption and human rights violations. This year promises to be a watershed year for cases involving Shell entities, according to a summary from Amnesty International. The organization says at least…
Participants in the three-day African Oil & Power conference, which runs through Friday in Cape Town, are showcasing African industry’s efforts to align with this year’s theme of “Make Energy Work.” Gwede Mantashe, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa, served as keynote speaker on Thursday with…
The heightened rhetoric following Saturday’s attack on Saudi Aramco oil infrastructure seemed more heat than light, as the United States accused Iran of being responsible – which Iran denies – and threatened retaliation in keeping with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s wishes. It’s still uncertain how much structural damage was…
By Miguel Sanz João Lourenço has been president of Angola since September 2017. About one year later, he cemented his hold on power by taking over the chairmanship of the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA). Although he reshuffled the government, for instance by replacing the transport minister, and the…
Christine Lagarde, managing director for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), completed a recent visit to Angola with a warning that the OPEC nation – Africa’s second largest oil producer, behind Nigeria – needs to shift away from its oil reliance. “Angola has come a long way since the end of…
The Nigerian people were cheated out of an estimated USD$6 billion when a 2011 oil rights deal enriched its own officials but really benefited two international oil majors – Royal Dutch Shell and the Italian Eni – instead of Nigeria, according to a report released Monday by London-based NGO Global…
South Sudan’s oil production is recovering from years of conflict, according to Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, the country’s Minister of Petroleum, but many obstacles remain even as oilfield operations come back online. Security was top of mind as South Sudan took the spotlight during the Africa Oil & Power conference in…
The African continent is attracting some USD$20 billion in energy investment from government-backed development institutions across the world each year – but far too much of it promotes fossil fuels rather than the shift to renewable energy. That’s according to a new analysis from Oil Change International, an advocacy organization based in…
The central African nation of Congo Brazzaville has become the newest member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), following the conclusion of the OPEC member meeting in Vienna on Friday. It is now the 15th nation to become a member, seven of them on the continent. The…
No one talked very much ahead of the fossil-fuel conference hosted by Pope Francis at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican this weekend: not the participants, not the Vatican, and not the University of Notre Dame in the United States, a Roman Catholic institution that co-sponsored the event….
South Sudan’s Ministry of Mining, Ministry of Petroleum and the state-owned Nile Petroleum Company were among 15 oil-industry entities added to the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List on Thursday, for what officials say is their funding of the country’s ongoing conflict and actions deemed “contrary to the national security…
The United States has announced it will publish Thursday the names of 15 oil-industry entities in South Sudan that U.S. officials say are supporting the country’s ongoing crisis with their revenues. The decision to place the South Sudanese businesses on the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List means licensing will…
Executives of Royal Dutch Shell and Italian oil major Eni will stand trial in Milan on corruption charges tied to a widely investigated Nigerian oil rights deal dating back to 2011. An Italian judge on Wednesday set a March 5 date for the case against Eni’s current CEO Claudio Descalzi,…
Officials in Equatorial Guinea say ExxonMobil has struck oil with the Avestruz-1 well drilled by the company in October. It’s now being assessed for its commercial potential. The site is about 160 kilometers off Malabo, in an area adjacent to the Zafiro field in the country’s maritime area to the…
A corruption case revealed this week in the United States led to the arrest of the former foreign minister of Senegal while implicating high-level African leaders in two countries – and casting a new shadow on China’s role on the continent as Beijing advances its Belt and Road Initiative. The…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times