Algeria to Ramp Up Gas Output While Putting Shale on Backburner

Algeria to Ramp Up Gas Output While Putting Shale on Backburner

ALGIERS, Capital Markets in Africa: Algeria plans to raise natural-gas production almost 30 percent by the end of the decade though won’t tap its vast shale reserves for now. The North African country aims to pump 122 billion cubic meters of gas by 2020, up from 96 billion cubic meters currently, Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa said in an interview in Algiers. Conventional production, rather than shale, is the “immediate priority,” he said. Africa’s largest gas producer has…

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OPEC Members Take Up Positions on Freeze Before Algiers Talks

OPEC Members Take Up Positions on Freeze Before Algiers Talks

LAGOS. Capital Markets in Africa: OPEC’s decision to hold informal talks in Algiers this week has fanned speculation that the group might be about to deviate from a two-year-old policy of pumping without limits, which succeeded in hurting rival suppliers but also sent prices into free fall. A previous attempt to agree on an output freeze, including non-OPEC member Russia, collapsed in Doha in April when Saudi Arabia walked away because Iran refused to participate. This…

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East Africa Oil Pipelines Boon to Private Funders, AfDB Says

East Africa Oil Pipelines Boon to Private Funders, AfDB Says

NAIROBI, Capital Markets in Africa: Oil pipelines planned in Kenya and Uganda to ferry crude from fields to port present opportunities for private financiers keen to gain a foothold in East Africa’s energy industry, the African Development Bank says. “Nobody has ever, ever lost money financing pipelines,” Gabriel Negatu, the Abidjan-based lender’s regional director for East Africa, said in an interview in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Sept. 23. If there is oil flowing, “it’s generally viable,” he said. East…

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Marriott to Nearly Double Workforce in Mideast, Africa

Marriott to Nearly Double Workforce in Mideast, Africa

LAGOS, Capital Markets in Africa: Marriott International Inc., which became the world’s largest hotel operator with its $14 billion purchase of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., plans to almost double its workforce in the Middle East and Africa over the next three years. The company expects to add 30,000 more people to its regional workforce of 41,000 as new properties are opened, Marriott’s regional president Alex Kyriakidis said on Sunday. About 6,000 of the new jobs…

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Egypt eyes $10 bln in foreign investment as it upgrades infrastructure

Egypt eyes $10 bln in foreign investment as it upgrades infrastructure

CAIRO, Capital Markets in Africa: Egypt hopes to attract $10 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) next year and will automate the process of establishing a company, its investment chief said, highlighting efforts to revive the economy and earn much-needed hard currency. The most populous Arab country has been scrambling to attract the investment needed to restore growth since the 2011 uprising, which ushered in protracted political turmoil and scared away tourists and foreign investors…

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Kenya Airways in talks with 3-4 parties on stake sale: CEO

Kenya Airways in talks with 3-4 parties on stake sale: CEO

NAIROBI, Capital Markets in Africa: Kenya Airways is talking to “about three or four” foreign institutional investors and airlines about buying a stake to raise cash for the lossmaking carrier, its chief executive said on Monday. The airline, 27 percent-owned by Air France KLM, has been reducing the size of and modernising its fleet, selling land and cutting jobs to recover from losses caused by a slump in tourism. “We are talking to about three…

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Telecom Egypt considers buying more spectrum

Telecom Egypt considers buying more spectrum

CAIRO, Capital Markets in Africa: Telecom Egypt, the state fixed-line monopoly, said on Monday it was considering buying more spectrum, weeks after acquiring a fourth-generation (4G) licence that will allow it to directly offer mobile phone services for the first time. “Telecom Egypt has presented a request to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority to understand the terms and conditions related to any other spectrum on offer so it can be studied and evaluated,” it said…

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