Atlantico Weekly

Archive for the ‘Oil’ Category

Angola Business News

In Airports, Angola, Economy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Oil, Politics, Ports, Travel on September 17, 2010 at 8:27 am

POLITICS

Angola’s powerful Economy Minister, Manuel Nunes Junior, will step down soon, two privately owned weekly newspapers cited unnamed sources as saying (Reuters).

The campaign for Angola’s 2012 elections is off to a ill-tempered start with the ruling MPLA party and the opposition UNITA party accusing each other of dirty tactics that threaten a return to violence in the oil producing nation (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Angola’s annual inflation quickened to 13.99 percent year-on-year in August from 13.7 percent the previous month, the National Statistics Institute said (Reuters).

Angola’s central bank has loosened the kwanza peg by allowing local banks to bid for U.S. dollars at its weekly auctions with fewer bidding restrictions (Reuters).

Higher exports and oil prices have helped Angola’s economy recover in 2010, while companies are spending more now that the government has started to pay off some of its debt, the deputy governor of the country’s central bank said (Reuters).

OIL

Angola’s daily crude oil exports are scheduled to drop in November, according to the preliminary loading plan which excludes shipments of the Palanca grade (Bloomberg).

AVIATION

Air France-KLM plans flights to new African destinations, among which Angola (Bloomberg).

BUSINESS

A shipyard with a 250 metre-long dock was opened in Porto Amboim, in Angola’s Kwanza Sul province, as part of an investment of US$150 million.
The investment is part of a partnership between Angolan company Cenbir and Dutch company Heerema Marine Contractors, and the shipyard has two 300-ton cranes, two transport rafts and a tug (Macauhub).

Portugal’s largest builder Mota-Engil plans to sell a 49 percent stake in its Angolan unit to local partners Sonangol and BFA in the next few weeks, Chief Financial Officer Luis Silva said (Reuters).

TRADE

The trade volume between India and Angola is estimated at over USD 5 billion (ANGOP).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Biofuels, Economy, Hotels, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Politics on September 3, 2010 at 8:34 am

POLITICAL RISK

Angola’s ruling MPLA party emerged victorious from a 27-year civil war in 2002 promising a better life for Angolans but this dream is fading as corruption is rife and the government is seen failing to help the poor. Read the political risk analysis at Reuters.

ECONOMY

Angola’s foreign exchange reserves dropped slightly for the second straight month to $15.29 billion in July from $15.52 billion in June, the central bank said (Reuters).

Investment in Angola’s private sector in the first half totalled US$1.255 billion, almost three times the US$450 million invested in the same period of 2009 (Macauhub).

Public works, education and transport projects have benefited most from credit concession agreement between the China Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) and Angola, which now total US$4.547 billion (Macauhub).

OIL

Angolan authorities cut gasoline and diesel subsidies as a prelude to liberalising the country’s downstream oil sector, triggering a steep rise in pump prices and the threat of protests from irate motorists (Reuters).

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CONSTRUCTION

Portugal’s largest builder Mota-Engil expects Angola to settle its debt with the company by the end of the first quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luis Silva said (Reuters).

INFRA

The Angolan government asked for financial and technological support from Japan for the construction of a bridge between the provinces of Zaire and Cabinda, the National Private Investment Agency (ANIP) said (Macauhub).

The Luanda/Malanje railroad, which has been undergoing reconstruction since 2005, in the next two months will be able to operate an experimental freight train, the Deputy Transport Minister for the railway sector said (Macauhub).

BIOFUELS

Biofuels companies from the U.K. to Brazil and China are buying up large swaths of Africa including Angola, causing deforestation and diverting land from food to fuel production, the environmental group Friends of the Earth said (Bloomberg).

HOTELS

The Boavista neighbourhood of Angola’s capital, Luanda will soon have a new hotel called “Empreendimento Pestana Luanda Hotel e Suites,” with 230 rooms, 50 of which will be suites (Macauhub).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Brazil, Economy, Oil, Real estate, Stock exchange, Travel on August 27, 2010 at 8:34 am

ECONOMY

Angola has suspended efforts to get more foreign loans, so that the government can assess their benefit to the country’s development (Bloomberg).

Angola said it had paid $1.28 billion of a government-estimated $6.8 billion in overdue bills to local and foreign builders in the southern African nation as it tries to restore investor credibility (Reuters).

A proposed stock market in Angola, which vies with Nigeria to be Africa’s top oil producer, will rank “at least third” in sub-Saharan African market capitalization (Bloomberg).

OIL

Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, said it’s investigating an oil spill in Angola (Bloomberg).

Angolan state-run oil firm Sonangol will start building a long-delayed $8 billion refinery this year in a bid to cut back on imports of refined products, which have weighed on the economy, its oil minister said (Reuters).

AVIATION

Brazilian regional airline Puma Air has been authorised to provide four flights per week between Brazil and Angola, the Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) said (Macauhub).

EDUCATION

The Angolan minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Maria Cândida Teixeira, appealed to managers of Higher Institutes of Education Sciences (ISCED) to create of centres of excellence in their academic regions (AllAfrica).

BUSINESS

The South African Shoprite Group is investing USD 13 million in the construction of a supermarket, in Huambo city, whose works started in the first quarter of this year (AllAfrica).

REAL ESTATE

The Angolan subsidiary of the Brazilian group Build Brasil has changed its name to Build Angola and plans to launch on Monday a housing project budgeted at US$50 million (Macauhub).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Economy, Hotels, Oil, Ports on August 20, 2010 at 8:03 am

ECONOMY

Angola owes foreign building firms $9 billion, the Finance Ministry said, a higher figure than Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos gave the previous day and one that could hamper its plans for a $4 billion bond (Reuters).

Angola will start paying part of the $6.8 billion it owes to foreign building firms operating in the oil-producing African nation later this year, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said (Reuters).

Angola’s economy is expected to grow at almost double the rate of sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, between 7 and 12 percent, until 2012, the country’s Transport Minister, August da Silva Tomás said (Macauhub).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Angola’s National Customs Services are to increase sanctions against workers who continue to not meet deadlines for processing of certain goods, regardless of the causes of delays (Macauhub).

OIL

U.S. oil major Occidental Petroleum Corp and Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina have shown an interest in taking a stake in Sonangol’s two Iraqi oilfield development projects (Reuters).

Angolan crude exports will fall to the lowest level in three-and-a-half years to 1.52 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, preliminary loading programmes showed (Reuters).

BP is borrowing $3 billion backed by income from Angolan operations, lenders said (Bloomberg).

BUSINESS

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has been awarded a contract for the capital and maintenance dredging of the Soyo LNG port in Angola. The total contract value is approximately € 155 million in which Boskalis has a 50% share. The contract was awarded by Angola LNG Ltd. Work is set to commence in 2010 and capital dredging is set to be completed by mid 2011. Included in the contract is an optional maintenance contract running from early 2012 until early 2014 (Boskalis).

Depa Ltd., the Dubai-based interiors contractor, said it won a contract valued at $60 million for fit-out works at Hotel & Casino in Luanda, Angola (Bloomberg).

The Catumbela Industrial Development Hub (PDIC), in Lobito, in Angola’s Benguela province, has 100 new business projects, the chairman of the institution, Samuel Orlando Amaral said (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL

Angola Business News

In Airports, Angola, Banking, Oil on August 13, 2010 at 4:20 pm

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Portugal, one of Europe’s ailing economies, is increasingly placing its hopes of recovery on Angola (New York Times).

ECONOMY

Angola’s annual inflation rate dropped to 13.70 percent in July (Bloomberg).

SOCIAL

Landmines left behind by Angola’s three-decade long civil war have killed 166 people and injured hundreds more in the last four years (Reuters).

BANKING

Banco do Brasil and partners Banco Bradesco and Portugal’s Banco Espirito Santo will focus their Africa expansion in Angola, South Africa and Morocco (Reuters).

AVIATION

A new international airport will be built in Soyo, on the outskirts of the Lumueno area, 20 kilometres to the south of the city (Macauhub).

OIL

Total announced the launch of development of the CLOV project and the awards of the principal contracts. This project is the fourth development pole in Angola`s deep offshore Block 17, after Girassol, Dalia and Pazflor (Reuters).

Norway’s Statoil says its CLOV development in Angola approved with drilling scheduled to begin in 2012 and first oil expected in 2014 (Reuters).

Angola business news

In Angola, Banking, Economy, Hotels, Infrastructure, Mining, Oil, Real estate on August 8, 2010 at 10:01 am

ECONOMY

Angola’s economic outlook remained generally favorable but more steps were needed to create a sustainable fiscal position and reduce inflation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said (Reuters).

Angola’s foreign exchange reserves dropped slightly for the first time in four months to $15.52 billion in June from $15.64 billion in May, the central bank said (Reuters).

Angola cut its growth estimate for 2010 to 6.7 percent from 9.7 percent in a revised budget (Bloomberg).

BANKING

Angola said it would offer loans to cash-strapped banks, admitting for the first time that some lenders in the African nation are struggling with liquidity problems (Reuters).

INFRASTRUCTURE

Angola plans to reserve earnings from oil production of 100,000 barrels per day to form a fund to pay for infrastructure including power supply and water provision projects (Bloomberg).

HOUSING

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos renewed a $50bn pledge to build one million new homes for the poor, despite growing signs of weakness in the major African oil-producer’s public finances (News24).

OIL & GAS

Angola is self-sufficient in production of butane gas and has a total quota of some 600,000 tons per day (Macauhub).

Ten years after the start of operations, block 17 in Angola’s offshore has produced 1 billion barrels of oil from the Girassol, Dália, Rosa and Jasmin rigs (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Angola’s flagship airline TAAG is set to acquire more new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in the middle of next year (Macauhub).

MINING

The provincial director for Industry, Geology and Mining for Angola’s Huíla province said that mining studies were underway to establish the minerals that exist in the province in order to allow them to be explored (Macauhub).

HOTELS

The Angolan government plans to convert the former railway stations of Caminhos-de-Ferro de Luanda (CFL), located along the Luanda/Ndalatando/Malanje route into hotels as of 2011 (Macauhub).

REAL ESTATE

The growth of Angola’s middle class, with the ability to buy their own house, is opening up prospects for investment in the highest real estate segment in Angola, according to a study by the Deloitte (Macauhub).

Cape Verde business & economy

In Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Oil, Tourism, Travel on August 1, 2010 at 8:47 am

TOURISM

“The State should play the role that belongs to it as an incentive-provider, promoter and leader of the tourism development process in Cape Verde,” according to Praia mayor Ulisses Correia e Silva, who spoke at the closing session of the Private/Public Forum on Residential Tourism organized by Promitur (A Semana).

The President of the Cape Verdean Association of Real Estate Tourism Promoters (PROMITUR), Olavo Correia, stressed the need to increase financial resources for the promotion of the destination Cape Verde (Inforpress).

BUSINESS

Multinational Vitol-SA, which specializes in the commercialization of fuel, is negotiating the purchase of 19 of Shell’s regional subsidiaries in Africa, including the company’s operation in Cape Verde (A Semana).

Cape Verdean fuel company Empresa Nacional de Combustíveis (Enacol), which is majority-owmed by Portugal’s Galp Energia, at the end of May had a market share of 60 percent (Macauhub).

A Cape Verdean delegation led by the president of the Leeward Islands Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services participated in the 5th Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) Business Forum in Angolan capital Luanda, where it showed investment opportunities in the archipelago (A Semana).

AVIATION

The Cape Verdean government is negotiating the possibility of an open skies agreement with the European Union. Minister of Infrastructures, Transportation and Telecommunications Manuel Inocêncio Sousa revealed that the process “is not easy,” but did not deny the government’s hope of achieving an agreement, following the signing in June of a horizontal accord integrating all of the other accords entered into with the EU (A Semana).

Cape Verde’s TACV airline began a regular weekly flight to Madrid, meant to “attract Spanish tourists to the island country,” said the company’s director, Georgina Melo (Macauhub).

OIL

Brazil will support Cape Verde’s efforts to prospect for oil and gas in ultra-deepwater areas around the island country, the Brazilian president and Cape Verdean prime minister announced in Santa Maria (Macauhub).

POLLS

Angola business news

In Angola, Economy, Investments, Oil, Politics on August 1, 2010 at 8:46 am

POLITICS

Exiled leaders of the Angolan separatist group FLEC announced an end to their armed struggle for control of the African country’s oil-producing enclave of Cabinda (Reuters).

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Render of the four towers of the SKY Centre in Luanda, currently under construction (Skyscrapercity).

LUANDA

The capital in a country where most of the population lives in poverty has overtaken Tokyo as the most expensive in the world for foreigners, according to a study by consulting firm Mercer. Foreigners plop down $15 for a cheeseburger, $150 for haircuts; $2,500 for a one-year gym membership and tens of thousands of dollars for rent (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Angola owes foreign building firms $9 billion, the Finance Ministry said, a higher figure than Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos gave the previous day and one that could hamper its plans for a $4 billion bond (Reuters).

Angola’s unexpected $9 billion debt bill to foreign building firms will not affect its B+ rating as some payment arrears were expected and the country’s overall debt burden is low, ratings agency Fitch said (Reuters).

Portugal’s biggest buildling firm, Mota Engil, does not expect its first half results to be affected by millions of dollars in late payments from Angola, which represents 20 percent of its business (Reuters).

OIL

Angolan crude exports will fall to the lowest level in three-and-a-half years to 1.52 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, preliminary loading programmes showed (Reuters).

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras discovered an oil field on the coast of Angola with at least 500 million barrels of high grade crude, the company said (Reuters).

INVESTMENT

Angola is looking for partners to contribute around $870 million to revamp three textile plants and jump start its once-prosperous textile sector, the nation’s mining and industry minister said (Reuters).

Angolan business group Gema three days ago presented an investment proposal to the Angolan National Private Investment Agency (ANIP), for construction of a steel factory in Bengo province, the group’s chairman, José Leitão said (Macauhub).

Angola Business News

In Angola, Banking, Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Politics, Ports on June 27, 2010 at 7:29 am

ECONOMY

Angola reduced the amount of assets commercial banks must keep at the central bank to boost liquidity and lending, Economy Minister Manuel Nunes Junior said (Bloomberg).

The Angolan economy might become Africa’s fifth by 2014, economist Alves da Rocha said (Angop).

The new park to hold international fairs in Angola, which is still in the design stage, will be built in the capital Luanda in an area of 340 hectares (Macauhub).

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The presidents of Brazil and Angola signed bilateral agreements and a protocol of understanding for the concession of new credits to Angola to the value of US$1 billion (Macauhub).

ATLANTICO WEEKLY ON VACATION

Please note that the Atlantico Weekly team will be on holidays during the month of July. There will be therefore no new editions until August. And yes, we will be swimming in the Atlantic…

POLITICS

Four Angolan human rights activists went on trial for “crimes against state security” in the oil-rich province of Cabinda, over the deadly shooting attack on Togo’s football team in January (News24).

OIL

Angola’s state oil company Sonangol wants to work in Ghana’s emerging oil industry, which is expected to start producing crude later this year from a massive new field (News24).

The governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), Abraão Gourgel, said that the oil sector currently accounted for 55 percent of Angola’s gross domestic product (GDP) (Macauhub).

BANKING

A U.S. unit of HSBC has cut ties with some Angolan banks, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, months after a U.S. Senate investigation criticised it for lax oversight of accounts held by Angolans, including a former central bank governor (Reuters).

MINING

Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa is selling out of Angola, according to notes in the audited financial reports (BusinessDay).

A diamond exploration contract for the “Luxinge Project” was signed among the Angolan National Diamond Company (Endiama), Compesa Angola, Sheffield,  Syntechron Tríade and the International Sweden Gold Exploration (IGE) (Angop).

INFRA

The Luanda/Ndalatando/Malange railway link will start operating again in the second half of July once reconstruction of the 400 kilometres of line is concluded, said the chairman of railway company, Caminhos-de-Ferro de Luanda (CFL) (Macauhub).

The project to modernize and extend the port of Lobito is budgeted at US$1.2 billion (Macauhub).

Angola business news

In Airports, Angola, Economy, Oil, Real estate, Retail, Telecom on June 20, 2010 at 9:24 am

ECONOMY

Angola’s annual inflation rate climbed to 13.85 percent in May as food and non-alcoholic- beverage prices increased, the National Statistics Institute said. Inflation accelerated from 13.73 percent in April (Bloomberg).

TELECOMS

The Angolan mobile-phone operator Unitel approved a USD 800 million investment plan for the 2010/2011 period (ANGOP).

INVESTMENTS

Angola is providing 10-year visas to foreign investors and plans to launch a website where it will be possible to exchange information in real time (Macauhub).

AVIATION

Angolan state airport manager Enana plans to continue executing its modernisation and equipment programme for the country’s airports.
Since 2008, Enana has been carrying out a programme of refurbishment, modernisation and equipment of around 30 large, medium-sized and small airports across the country, as part of a project estimated to cost around US$400 million, under the terms of the Public Investment Programme (Macauhub).

REAL ESTATE

The Companhia Angolana de Comercio (CAC) is investing US$20 million to build a new shopping centre in Luanda Sul (Macauhub).

OIL

The extraction of a billion barrels of oil from offshore Bloc 17 in the ten years since operations began was commemorated on the Girassol production, storage and export vessel and attended by officials representing the sector, Sonangol and Total, the operating company and Bloc 17 associates (Statoil, Esso and BP) (Macauhub).

Angola business news

In Airports, Angola, Investments, Oil, Ports on June 13, 2010 at 10:49 am

OIL

Maersk Oil said its Chissonga-2 appraisal well in Block 16 offshore Angola yielded encouraging results and it expected to decide in early 2011 whether to start production (Reuters).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Foreigners working in Angola’s booming construction sector are sexually abusing underage girls in the southern city of Huila, an anti-Aids organisation said (News24).

A human rights campaigner has been sentenced to three years in jail by an Angolan court that convicted him of committing crimes against the state, in what his lawyer says is part of a crackdown on activists (News24).

PORTS

The acquisition of three tug boats will make it possible to speed up the process of mooring and departure of ships at the port of Luanda, the managing director of the Angolan Maritime and Port Institute said (Macauhub).

ENERGY

The start of operation of the Ngove hydroelectric dam in 2011 in Angola, will make it possible for the government of Huambo province to save 843 million kwanza (US$9 million) (Macauhub).

AIRPORTS

Angola’s Minister for Urbanism and Construction, José Ferreira, announced the construction, as of next year, of a new airport for the city of Mbanza Kongo, the capital of Zaire province (Macauhub).

Angola business news

In Airports, Angola, Brazil, Economy, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Tourism, Travel on June 6, 2010 at 7:47 am

ECONOMY

Grinding poverty, human rights abuses and police detentions are fuelling tension in Angola’s oil-rich province of Cabinda, but for now, international oil companies have little to fear (News24).

AVIATION

Beginning this week, Atlas Air is operating three weekly nonstop flights between George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Luanda, Angola. The newly customized Boeing 747-400 aircraft, provided by the Angolan SonAir company, feature 10 First Class, 143 Business Class and 36 Economy Class seats with the latest in-flight entertainment and comfort (Reuters).

OIL

Sonangol SA, Angola’s state oil company, will seek partners to help fund the development of Brazilian offshore blocks after buying exploration company Starfish (Bloomberg).

TRANSPORT

Angola’s Moçâmedes Railroad is to receive more locomotives and carriages for first, second and third class travel this year, which are due to start operating from the city of Lubango, Huila province (Macauhub).

ENTERTAINMENT

Angolan casino company Casinos de Angola plans to invest US$55 million over the next three years in opening three new casinos and refurbishing another (Macauhub).

SPLIT SECOND POLL


Angola Businesss News

In Angola, Economy, Investments, Mining, Oil, South Africa, Telecom on May 16, 2010 at 10:12 am

BUILDING OF THE WEEK

Artist’s impression of the Intercontinental Hotel & Casino, currently under construction in Angola’s capital Luanda (Skyscrapercity).

DIAMONDS

South Africa’s Trans Hex Group has partnered with Angolan state-owned diamond company Endiama and three other local companies to explore for diamonds at a new mine in Angola, Endiama said (BusinessDay).

ECONOMY

The International Monetary Fund approved its first performance review of Angola’s 27-month IMF economic program and agreed to disburse a $171.1 million loan tranche (Reuters).

OIL

The first stage of the Lobito oil refinery will start operating in 2014 with a capacity to refine 115,000 barrels/day and offering 1,000 direct jobs, Angolan oil minister Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos revealed (Angop).

BANKING

The northern Malange Province counts as from last Thursday on the first branch of Millennium Bank in the region (Angop).

TELECOMS

A study of the Angolan telecommunication sector, carried out from 2007 to 2008, recommends mobile network operators to make an annual investment  average of USD 750 million in order to improve the services provided to consumers (Angop).

Angola news update, May 2nd

In Angola, Banking, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Oil on May 2, 2010 at 10:51 am

ECONOMY

Portugal will donate 800 million euros ($1.07 billion) to Angola and lend it a further 800 million euros. Most of the money will probably be used to pay off Angola’s debt to Portuguese building companies (Bloomberg).

The National Private Investment Agency (ANIP) approved in 2009 a total of 618 private investment proposals in non-oil sectors, the coordinator of the institution, Aguinaldo Jaime, informed (ANGOP).

BANKING

The BAI (Banco Africano de Investimentos) 2009 net incomes of reached 231 million USdollars against 166 millions recorded last year (ANGOP).

Angolan bank, Banco Totta Monday changed its name to Banco Caixa Geral Totta de Angola following a change in its shareholder structure (Macauhub).

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Angola’s pavilion at the Expo Shangai 2010 may attract, during the six months of exhibition, a total of six million visitors, thereby surpassing the four million that visited the Angolan pavilion at the Expo Saragoza 2008 of Spain, ANGOP has learnt.

Angola’s Energy Minister Emmanuela Vieira Lopes said that it was necessary to interconnect the electricity systems of the member state of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) (Macauhub).

Trade between Angola and saw a sharp fall in 2009 when compared to the two previous years (Macauhub).

OIL

Angolan investors including oil company Sonangol SA may buy a stake of between 3 pecent and 5 percent in Galp Energia SGPS SA if Eni SpA sells its 33 percent holding (Bloomberg).

ENERGY

At least 18.0 billion US dollars will be necessary until 2018 for investment in production, transportation and distribution of power (ANGOP).

BUSINESS

Angolan company Refriango plans to increase its production of soft drinks this year and start exporting its products to the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) (Macauhub).

Angola news update, April 25th

In Agriculture, Angola, Economy, Hotels, Investments, Oil, Stock exchange on April 24, 2010 at 11:08 am

ECONOMY

Angola’s stock exchange, expected to start operating later this year, may be Africa’s third-biggest in market-capitalization terms (Bloomberg).

The Angolan economy is expected to see a string recovery this year with growth of 7.1 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its World Economic Outlook (Macauhub).

OIL & GAS

Angola’s oil minister, said the price of oil is currently too high (Bloomberg).

Angola is considering joining the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF),Angola’s Oil Minister said during a meeting of the organisation in Algeria (Macauhub).

BUSINESS

South Africa’s second-largest food retailer, plans to open two stores in Mauritius next year and is exploring opportunities in Angola (Bloomberg).

Halliburton, the world’s second-largest oilfield contractorannounced a $1.3 billion contract for a project off the coast of Angola (Bloomberg).

HOTELS

Portuguese company Amorim Turismo plans to start its internationalisation process in Angola, where it will invest 90 million euros over the next four years (Macauhub).

AGRICULTURE

Spanish company África Sementes and Angola’s Mundo Verde are investing in the construction of a cotton processing factory in the municipality of Sumbe, in Angola’s Kwanza Sul province (Macauhub).

Angola news update, April 18th

In Angola, Brazil, Economy, Hotels, Infrastructure, Investments, Mining, Oil, Travel on April 18, 2010 at 2:25 pm

ECONOMY

Angola scaled back plans to raise as much as $4 billion in a sale of bonds without credit ratings, seeking instead to issue $1 billion to $2 billion, according to Finance Minister Carlos Lopes (Bloomberg).

Angolan inflation accelerated to 13.8 percent in March from 13.66 percent in February because of food and beverage costs, the National Statistics Institute said (Bloomberg).

The National Private Investment Agency (ANIP) approved until 30 November 2009 projects amounted to about USD 1.4 billion, more than the USD 105.8 million of  2008 (Angop).

BUSINESS

M-I SWACO, a drilling fluids venture partly owned by Schlumberger Ltd, has won a contract from Chevron Corp for work off Angola that could lead to $800 million in revenues over six years (Reuters).

TRAVEL

Angolan group Silisa has invested some US$2.5 million in the construction of a hotel complex in the Benfica neighbourhood of Luanda, the “Sunsil Hotel” (Macauhub).

INFRASTRUCTURE

The Angolan Council of Ministers has approved the acquisition of 15 locomotives, 150 carriages and 231 wagons for the country’s rail network (Macauhub).

MINING

Angola is once again moving ahead with the mega mining projects for extraction and processing of iron and copper, which involves a search for international investors to support the projected high level of investment. Amongst the companies that have already been in contact with Empresa Nacional de Ferros de Angola (Ferrangol) are Brazil’s Vale, one of the world’s biggest mining companies, and Korea’s Samsung (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, April 11th

In Agriculture, Airports, Cape Verde, Energy, Infrastructure, Investments, Oil, Real estate, Security on April 11, 2010 at 7:53 pm

POLITICS

National Assembly speaker Aristides Lima received a petition this week from a group of approximately 160 citizens of European Union and other European countries expressing their concern with a series of phenomena and problems affecting their lives and their investments on the island of Boa Vista (A Semana).

ECONOMY

A lack of workers is making this year’s sugar cane harvest difficult on Santo Antão island and jeopardizing the deadlines of some of the public works under way in the northern portion of the island (A Semana).

In 2008 the Cape Verdean market had 3,689 Portuguese companies exporting goods and services, or 7.5 percent more than in 2003, the delegate of the Portuguese trade and investment promotion agency, AICEP said (Macauhub).

ENERGY

The Alentejo Regional Development Agency (ADRAL), a Portuguese-Cape Verdean consortium, is preparing a small-scale solar and wind energy generating project for the island of Fogo in partnership with the Portuguese town of Ferreira and the company Open Renewables (A Semana).

The blackout that left Praia without electricity also paralyzed the capital city’s international airport. The situation was chaotic, with those in the terminal in utter darkness, while passengers arriving on TACV flight 6070 from Portugal were retained inside the aircraft for more than 40 minutes (A Semana).

BUSINESS

Anglo-Dutch corporation Shell has announced that it is in the process of selling its 21 affiliates in Africa, including that in Cape Verde. According to website Visão News, the decision is aimed at eliminating less profitable business dealings and concentrating capital in large-scale projects liable to increase the company’s stock and distribution of petroleum and gas (A Semana).

DEFENCE

The Armed Forces (AF) will in May recruit for the first time 10 to 12 women to attend the first course of female corporals (Inforpress).

REAL ESTATE

The Tecnicil company, owner of the Vila Verde resort on Sal, will start a  sales campaign aimed at Cape Verdean families to buy flats in the resort (Inforpress).

Angola news update, April 11th

In Angola, Banking, Brazil, Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Investments, Mining, Oil, South Africa on April 11, 2010 at 7:46 pm

ECONOMY

As Africa’s largest exporter of oil — surpassing Nigeria last year — Angola is one of the largest investment destinations on the continent. Despite the enormous opportunities South African business presence is still relatively insignificant. Instead, China, Brazil and even Russia are playing an important role in Angola in sectors such as construction, civil engineering and resource extraction — traditional sweet spots for South African companies (BusinessDay).

The Ministry for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fishing plans to increase inspection of Angolan territorial waters with the introduction of new patrol vessels, the Minister said in Lobito (Macauhub).

OIL

Petrobras, Brazil’s state-run oil company, plans to expand its exploration activities in Angola, Petrobras Chairman Gabrielli said in Luanda. Gabrielli held talks with Angolan President dos Santos while on a visit to Angola (Bloomberg).

The heads of Sonangol and Petrobrás analysed co-operation ties and issues related to international oil market (Angop).

Angola, which vies with Nigeria as Africa’s biggest oil producer, expects new discoveries to boost crude output by 16 percent next year. Oil production will reach 2.2 million barrels a day by 2011, compared with 1.9 million barrels at present, Deputy Petroleum Minister Anibal Octavio da Silva said (Bloomberg).

TOURISM

There is one thing you should know about Luanda: hardly any tourists come here. Getting a visa can take many months and finding a hotel room, if you can afford it, is equally challenging. Read the travel postcard from Luanda at Reuters.

AIR TRAVEL

Taag, Angola’s flagship airline plans to acquire two aircraft in order to cover European routes, following its recent authorisation to re-launch flights to the European Union airspace. A quick and cheap way for the Angolan government to solve the problem would be to hand over the modern Boeing 777s owned by Sonair, the air carrier of Angolan national oil company, Sonangol (Macauhub).

BANKING

Portugal’s main banks will be able to maintain their levels of profitability in 2009 due to a rise in spreads and of foreign operation, particularly in Angola, the Fitch agency said (Macauhub).

Angola news update, April 4th

In Airports, Angola, Brazil, Economy, Oil, Travel on April 4, 2010 at 1:46 pm

ECONOMY

The Angolan economy is expected to return to growth of close to 10 percent this year, with the recovery of the oil sector and expected investments, according to estimates from Espírito Santo Research published Monday in Lisbon (Macauhub).

AIR TRAVEL

Angola’s TAAG airline received partial exemption from the European Union (EU) blacklist of foreign airlines banned from flying to Europe (BusinessDay).

OIL

Total SA discovered hydrocarbons for the second time in the north-eastern area of Block 17 deep offshore Angola (Bloomberg).

Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corp) announced it had agreed to acquire deepwater oil assets in Angola, paying US$2.46 billion for a 55 percent stake in Sonangol Sinopec Internacional (Macauhub).

ATLANTICO

MAN Latin America, a subsidiary of German group MAN, has opened a showroom in Angola to sell Volkswagen trucks produced in Brazil (Macauhub).

Angola weekly news update, March 28th

In Angola, Biofuels, Economy, Oil, Ports, Real estate on March 28, 2010 at 9:55 am

ECONOMY

Angola’s parliament has approved a law meant to support biofuel production, as the government tries to diversify the economy which currently depends on oil. Agriculture Minister Afonso Pedro Kanga noted concerns that developing biofuels could harm Angola’s efforts to revive food crops and assured that only “marginal” lands would be allowed to produce biofuels leaving the most fertile lands for food production (News24).

Angola continues to be one of the United States’ main trading partners in sub-Saharan Africa according to a study from the US Congress Research Center. The study said that in 2008 (last year analysed in the document) the overwhelming majority of US imports from the region was focused on three countries: Nigeria (44 percent), Angola (22 percent) and South Africa (12 percent) (Macauhub).

Angola will start paying off arrears to building companies in April, Urban Planning and Construction Minister Jose da Silva Ferreira said. Failure to settle the arrears, which the government said in July 2009 had reached around $2 billion, could have a negative impact on Angola’s first credit rating and the sale of up to $4 billion in bonds due to take place in coming months (Reuters).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Seven Angolan policemen were sentenced to 24 years each in jail for the murder of eight men in a poor neighbourhood, in what analysts said was a key step forward in a drive to end widespread police brutality (Reuters).

OIL

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola will negotiate the management of a common zone of interest to end a dispute over offshore oil deposits, Joseph Pili Pili, the Congolese oil ministry liasion with Angola, said (Bloomberg).

CONSTRUCTION

Israeli construction company LR Group plans to build 100,000 social houses in Angola as part of the government programme to build 1 million homes by 2012 (Macauhub).

OPWAY Angola will build the first phase of the Muxima Plaza project in Luanda, representing an investment of US$34 million. OPWAY Angola is a partnership involving the Escom group and OPWAY Engenharia (Macauhub).

SHIPPING

Sea freight to import goods to Angola is quite expensive, due to the weak negotiating capacity of national importers, the director-general of the National Shipper’s Council (CNC) said. He also said that currently shipping to Angola has seen a slight drop of around 13 percent, although it remained at around US$8,000 per 20 TEU container (Macauhub).

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