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Nigeria: French oil giant, TotalEnergies, joins train to sell stake in onshore oil production

Published

1 year ago

April 29, 2022

The wave of multinationals leaving African countries has continued as French oil major TotalEnergies has announced it will put up for sale its minority stake in a Nigerian oil joint venture.

TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Pouyanne, was quoted by international media – Bloomberg that “disruption of local communities are sources of great concern in the country,”

The firm attributed its plans to join the bandwagon of other oil majors and sell its stake in an onshore oil production joint venture in Nigeria to the disruption of local communities which has become a source of great concern.

Last year, Royal Dutch Shell, entered talks with the Nigerian government to sell the Anglo-Dutch company’s stake in onshore oilfields, CEO Ben van Beurden.

In February, Seplat Energy Plc, unveiled plans to acquire the entire share capital of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from Exxon Mobil Corporation Delaware (USA Incorporated). That includes all of Exxon’s entire shallow water assets in the Niger Delta.

The French energy giant will look to offload its 10 percent interest in a firm that holds 20 onshore and shallow water permits in the West African country, Mr. Pouyanne said.

Shell Plc, the operator of the licenses, is already considering bids from four local firms for its 30 percent shareholding in the company,” he said.

African countries have experienced departures of multinationals. Last month, ride-hailing company, Uber, suspended its services in Tanzania as a result of regulations that are not business-friendly which has made its operation in the East African country. Standard Chartered Bank also announced it has ended its operations in some African countries earlier this month.

Related Topics:Featured onshore oil production TotalEnergies

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Kenya: Parliament approves appointment of Kamau Thugge as central bank governor

Published

17 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

Months after throwing open the position for the country’s top banker, Kenya’s parliament has approved the appointment of Kamau Thugge as the country’s central bank governor.

The National Assembly on Wednesday approved the
appointment of economist and senior civil servant who was nominated by President William Ruto as the next apex bank chief.

Thugge, who served as principal secretary in the finance ministry until mid-2018, was nominated after serving as one of the president’s senior economic advisers since late last year.

He shook off competition from others shortlisted candidates like Adan Mohamed, who served in the cabinet from 2013-2022, with four others also interviewed for the role.

The new central bank governor will be faced with the immediate pressure of stabilizing the country’s monetary policy as the East African giant currently faces a shortage of funds amidst rising public debt.

Despite the odds, the World Bank in a report earlier today expects growth to edge up to 5.0% in 2023, underpinned by a recovery in agriculture.

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Ghana presents ‘working proposal’ for debt restructuring— IMF sources

Published

18 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

West African country, Ghana has made a major move at resolving its debt crisis as the country has presented debt restructuring proposal to its creditors.

According to sources quoted by Reuters, a “working proposal” has been submitted to help the country escape its worst economic crisis in a generation.

One of the sources revealed that the proposal was a first attempt to engage the official creditor committee after its formation in May. It should be recalled that the Paris Club last month announced that official sector of creditors of Ghana had formed a committee co-chaired by China and France for debt restructuring talks.

The plan is to end restructuring of domestic debt before turning to negotiations with its official bilateral creditors and international bondholders, a government official said.

Ghana is one of several cash-strapped countries facing unprecedented delays in getting bailouts as China, its biggest bilateral creditor with about $1.7 billion of debt and Western economies disagree over how debt relief should be structured.

The first formal review of the programme will hold in the coming months as an IMF team will visit Ghana between 8th and 15th of June.