Background to the Barrick Gold/Acacia Mining Dispute With Tanzania and Way Forward Recent reports, especially Western business media, regarding the relations between Barrick Gold Mining Ltd. (ABXU.S.: NYSE) / Acacia Mining Plc. (LON: ACA) and the government of President John Magufuli have tended to forget the history of the formerly socialist country’s relations…
Details
Should You Trust the World Bank? Its 2017 Annual Report Will Surprise You The World Bank Group has just released its 2017 Annual Report, which covers the period from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017. It was prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International…
Details
Nigeria to Host the 2017 African Philanthropy Forum Conference The 2017 African Philanthropy Forum Conference themed “African Philanthropy in a Changing Global Context”, is coming to Nigeria this year from October 30 – 31 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. So far, the annual conference has been hosted in three other…
Details
Aramco Shares IPO: Relax International Listing Rules or Buy From Saudi Exchange Only Bloomberg News (26 October 2017) reports that Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange is gunning for the exclusive right to list shares of oil giant Aramco and will compete with other bourses seeking a piece of what could be the world’s biggest…
Details
Oil-Rich Gulf Arab Countries Are Turning to Renewables, Too! Bloomberg News (26 October 2017) reports that solar power is getting so cheap that even Gulf Arab states awash in crude oil are embracing the renewable resource. Their motive is as much to keep selling fossil fuels as it is to rein in their…
Details
What’s Oil Doing to Petrocurrencies Right Now? The currencies of some of the world’s biggest crude exporters are breaking their historic relationship with the oil price. The Canadian dollar has weakened, the Norwegian krone is little changed and the Russian ruble has strengthened just 4 percent in the past three months even as…
Details
Why Is Big Oil Investing $6.2 Billion in Clean Energy? According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (Bloomberg News, Oct. 25, 2017), the world’s biggest oil companies are closing more clean energy deals as pressure to diversify their businesses mounts and growth accelerates among green technologies. The clean energy industry attracted almost $290 billion…
Details
The Death of US Soldiers in Niger and the Post-Gaddafi Repercussions in Sahel Africa “How can we speak of such a thing as post-Gaddafi repercussions, may well be asked? A dictator is gone, and not just any dictator, but a source of regional and global instability who used his oil wealth to support…
Details
Kwese TV Is Revolutionizing Lucrative Pay-As-You-Watch TV in Africa The long-running dominance of the pay-as-you-watch (PAYW) TV in Africa by South Africa-based DSTv is once again set to be threatened. The source of the threat is playing out, first, in the revolution now happening in penetrating the very lucrative Nigerian market led by Kwese…
Details
What Did Tanzania Really Gain From the $300m Deal With Barrick Gold/Acacia? The investment world has been abuzz with news of the recent agreement by which Barrick Gold’s majority-owned African subsidiary, Acacia Mining Plc will give Tanzania a 16 percent stake in three gold mines, a 50 per cent share in revenues from…
Details