Angola Chairs Opec At Market's Crucial Moment
Published on 16th December 2008
Angola will formally assumed as from
December 17, the presidency of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC), at a very troubled moment of the world market, due to
the sharp drop in crude prices according to AngolaPress. On this day,
the cartel shall hold in the Algerian city of, Oran, one more
ministerial ordinary session, in which the Angolan Oil minister, José
Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, shall take up the post that is currently
under the possession of his counterpart of Algeria, Chakib Khelil.
OPEC, whose production quota is determined by the organisation, shall
not rule out the possibility of reducing, one more, its levels of
production estimated at over USD 30 million barrels of oil/day. The
cartel reduced its production of 1.55 million barrels/day in its last
extraordinary session, held last October in Vienna, Austria.
Uganda Warned that Anti-LRA Offensive Could Backfire
Peace activists in northern Uganda have criticised a weekend air and ground assault by the armed forces of Uganda, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against several Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) camps in north-eastern DRC. According to IRIN, the activists warned the operation could derail a two-year peace process that had brought "some normalcy" to northern Uganda. "It is unfortunate; life will be lost and that is not of any benefit to humanity," Bishop John Baptist Odama, the Catholic Archbishop of Gulu, said. "The state we had reached was merely to agree and iron out the ICC [International Criminal Court] indictments. We thought that they will wait and then we find a better way forward." Nobert Mao, Gulu district council chairman and also spearheading attempts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, expressed shock at the operation and said leaders in northern Uganda felt betrayed. "We feel betrayed because we expected them to wait for the UN envoy, Joachim Chissano, to make his report to the UN Security Council and any actions thereafter should have been done under a bigger umbrella organisation that has been supporting the peace process," Mao said.
PetroSA Puts Plan for Coal Fuel Plant on Ice
South African state-owned oil and gas company PetroSA had shelved plans for a 40000 barrel-a-day coal-to-liquid plant as it looked further into issues such as water availability and carbon sequestration according to the BUSINESSDAY. The proposed plant, earmarked for Limpopo, is part of PetroSA's Vision 2020 that is central to its efforts to increase SA's refining capacity. The state energy security master plan for the liquid fuels sector recommended that PetroSA procure 30% of crude oil consumed in SA by 2020.After the group posted annual result; CEO Sipho Mkhize said the coal-to-liquid plant was put on hold "to allow key challenges such as water availability, carbon sequestration and other infrastructure requirements to be further investigated". Mkhize said PetroSA was drawn to the coal-to-liquid option because of the abundance of cheap coal and opportunities it provided for beneficiating local resources.
Somalia: PM Wins Vote-of-Confidence, Deals Blow to President
Somalia's interim Prime Minister, Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein, decisively won a vote-of-confidence motion on Monday after lawmakers approved his new Cabinet, Radio Garowe reported. Prime Minister Nur Adde addressed 165 MPs at ADC Hall in Baidoa, the seat of parliament, where he defended his administration's one-year record and accused President Abdullahi Yusuf of being an obstacle to peace.” The President refused his constitutional duty to approve the Cabinet," Prime Minister Nur Adde said, while formally requesting lawmakers to vote on the new Cabinet list. Sheikh Adan "Madobe" Mohamed, the Speaker, later announced the vote results: 143 MPs approved, 20 rejected and two MPs abstained. The vote is a blow to President Yusuf, a day after he announced that Prime Minister Nur Adde was fired.
Cameroon Energy Concerns At Centre of Europe Friendship
The Minister of External Relations, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, and the French Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E. Georges Serre, have both expressed the need for concerted efforts in the development of the energy sector in the world and Cameroon in particular according to Postnewsline.com. Both personalities expressed their concerns at the 6th edition of the Cameroon-Europe friendship days that was commemorated in Yaounde recently under the theme: "Cameroon's Energy Policy and Cooperation with Europe." Henri Eyebe in his address, noted that like other countries in the world, Cameroon is also faced with the problem of energy insufficiency notably electricity, which has for the past years, hampered the re-launch of its economic growth. He said despite the fact that Cameroon is ranked second in Africa in terms of hydro-electric energy potentials, exploitable natural gas deposits and biomass resources, some of the country's economic ambitions have witnessed a negative trend due to national energy crisis.
Uganda Warned that Anti-LRA Offensive Could Backfire
Peace activists in northern Uganda have criticised a weekend air and ground assault by the armed forces of Uganda, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against several Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) camps in north-eastern DRC. According to IRIN, the activists warned the operation could derail a two-year peace process that had brought "some normalcy" to northern Uganda. "It is unfortunate; life will be lost and that is not of any benefit to humanity," Bishop John Baptist Odama, the Catholic Archbishop of Gulu, said. "The state we had reached was merely to agree and iron out the ICC [International Criminal Court] indictments. We thought that they will wait and then we find a better way forward." Nobert Mao, Gulu district council chairman and also spearheading attempts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, expressed shock at the operation and said leaders in northern Uganda felt betrayed. "We feel betrayed because we expected them to wait for the UN envoy, Joachim Chissano, to make his report to the UN Security Council and any actions thereafter should have been done under a bigger umbrella organisation that has been supporting the peace process," Mao said.
PetroSA Puts Plan for Coal Fuel Plant on Ice
South African state-owned oil and gas company PetroSA had shelved plans for a 40000 barrel-a-day coal-to-liquid plant as it looked further into issues such as water availability and carbon sequestration according to the BUSINESSDAY. The proposed plant, earmarked for Limpopo, is part of PetroSA's Vision 2020 that is central to its efforts to increase SA's refining capacity. The state energy security master plan for the liquid fuels sector recommended that PetroSA procure 30% of crude oil consumed in SA by 2020.After the group posted annual result; CEO Sipho Mkhize said the coal-to-liquid plant was put on hold "to allow key challenges such as water availability, carbon sequestration and other infrastructure requirements to be further investigated". Mkhize said PetroSA was drawn to the coal-to-liquid option because of the abundance of cheap coal and opportunities it provided for beneficiating local resources.
Somalia: PM Wins Vote-of-Confidence, Deals Blow to President
Somalia's interim Prime Minister, Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein, decisively won a vote-of-confidence motion on Monday after lawmakers approved his new Cabinet, Radio Garowe reported. Prime Minister Nur Adde addressed 165 MPs at ADC Hall in Baidoa, the seat of parliament, where he defended his administration's one-year record and accused President Abdullahi Yusuf of being an obstacle to peace.” The President refused his constitutional duty to approve the Cabinet," Prime Minister Nur Adde said, while formally requesting lawmakers to vote on the new Cabinet list. Sheikh Adan "Madobe" Mohamed, the Speaker, later announced the vote results: 143 MPs approved, 20 rejected and two MPs abstained. The vote is a blow to President Yusuf, a day after he announced that Prime Minister Nur Adde was fired.
Cameroon Energy Concerns At Centre of Europe Friendship
The Minister of External Relations, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, and the French Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E. Georges Serre, have both expressed the need for concerted efforts in the development of the energy sector in the world and Cameroon in particular according to Postnewsline.com. Both personalities expressed their concerns at the 6th edition of the Cameroon-Europe friendship days that was commemorated in Yaounde recently under the theme: "Cameroon's Energy Policy and Cooperation with Europe." Henri Eyebe in his address, noted that like other countries in the world, Cameroon is also faced with the problem of energy insufficiency notably electricity, which has for the past years, hampered the re-launch of its economic growth. He said despite the fact that Cameroon is ranked second in Africa in terms of hydro-electric energy potentials, exploitable natural gas deposits and biomass resources, some of the country's economic ambitions have witnessed a negative trend due to national energy crisis.