VenturesNow

Egypt must import $1.18 billion worth of petroleum to address power outages— Prime Minister

Published

6 months ago

June 27, 2024

Egypt’s Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, stated in a televised speech on Tuesday that the country needed to import some $1.18 billion worth of natural gas and mazut fuel to put an end to the country’s ongoing power outages, which have been made worse by recent heat waves.

By the third week of July, the administration expects to have received all of the cargoes, at which point it plans to cease power outages for the remainder of the summer, he continued.

To increase its strategic stocks, it has already begun contracting for 300,000 tonnes of mazut worth $180 million, which is anticipated to arrive early next week.

In response to a spike in home electricity demand during the most recent heat wave, Egypt’s government on Monday extended daily power outages to three hours from two hours earlier.

According to Madbouly on Tuesday, these three-hour cutbacks would last until the end of June. After that, they will resume at two hours for the first part of July, to cease entirely for the remainder of the summer.

The impact of the blackouts has sparked a flurry of complaints on Egyptian social media, with some users claiming they have been compelled to buy private power generators.

Teenagers getting ready for the important high school diploma have been especially affected by the issue; some have posted about pupils studying in coffee shops and by candlelight. In the seaside city of Port Said, a wedding hall owner announced that he would convert one of his ballrooms into a study hall.

Since July of last year, most areas have seen scheduled daily power outages lasting two hours due to load shedding caused by declining gas supply, increasing demand, and a lack of foreign cash.

“We had said that we planned to end load shedding by the end of 2024… we do not have a power generation problem or a network problem, we are unable to provide fuel,” Madbouly said on Tuesday.
“With the increase in consumption related to the major development and population increase, there has been a lot of pressure on our dollar resources,” he added.

Without identifying the nation or the gas field, he said that production in a nearby country had completely stopped for 12 hours, disrupting the supply.

Abu Qir Fertilizers, based in Egypt, announced on Tuesday that three of its units had stopped producing due to a disruption in their natural gas supply.

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery exports first fuel to Cameroon

Published

1 day ago

December 12, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Dangote Refinery in Nigeria said on Wednesday that it had exported its first petrol to Cameroon, marking a significant milestone that may help stabilise gasoline costs throughout the region and open the door for regional energy integration.

When fully operational, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s 650,000-barrel refinery in Lagos is intended to alter the trade of refined products in the Atlantic basin and compete with refineries in Europe.

According to a statement by Neptune Oil, an energy company based in Cameroon, both businesses were looking into new projects to create a dependable supply chain that would assist in stabilising fuel costs and opportunities throughout the area.

According to Neptune Oil, there were no middlemen involved in the petrol delivery deal.

It is anticipated that the refinery’s operations will spur growth in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors, increasing investments in cement manufacture, plastic and rubber production, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, and oil refining.

VenturesNow

Egypt’s November inflation drops to 25.5%, near 2-year low

Published

3 days ago

December 11, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to figures released Tuesday by statistics agency CAPMAS, Egypt’s annual urban consumer price inflation rate fell more than anticipated to 25.5% in November, the lowest level since December 2022.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused international investors to pull billions of dollars out of Egyptian treasury markets, inflation started to rise sharply in early 2022.

In September 2023, headline inflation reached a record high of 38.0%. It dropped to 26.5% by October 2024.

In a Reuters survey last month, 15 economists’ consensus prediction was for annual inflation to gradually decline to 26.4%.

According to CAPMAS statistics, headline inflation decreased from 1.1% in October to 0.5% in November every month.

Compared to October, when they fell 1.1%, food costs fell 2.8% over the month, making them 23.3% more than they were a year ago.

An increase in the money supply has been a major contributor to inflation. According to central bank data, Egypt’s M2 money supply increased by 29.54% in October compared to the same month last year.