Tag Archives: Angola

8 months after, Nigeria reclaims spot as Africa’s largest oil producer.

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After eight months, Nigeria has reclaimed its spot as Africa’s largest oil producer, edging out Angola by a few thousand barrels per day.

In March 2016, Angola overtook Nigeria as Africa’s  largest producer, with a production level of 1.782  million barrels per day, as Nigeria produced on 1.677 million bpd that month.

According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) monthly oil report for December 2016, Nigeria pumped 1.782 million barrels per day while Angola produced 1.688 million barrels per day.

Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources, had initially said Nigeria had hit 1.9 million barrels of oil in December 2016.

Nigeria however exported less crude to the Unites States than Angola did in the month under review.

“US imports of Angolan and Nigerian crude increased to 307,000 b/d and 303,000 b/d, respectively, by mid-November,” the report read.

Quoting a Stanbic IBTC report, OPEC said Nigeria’s private sector purchasing managers index (PMI) — an indicator of the economic health of the manufacturing sector — eased in November, 2016

“Following two consecutive quarters of contraction, the economy of Nigeria shrank by 2.3% y-o-y in 3Q16, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. The Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria PMI highlighted that contraction in the private sector eased somewhat in November on renewed growth of new orders received.”

With the recent OPEC oil output deal, which does not require a cut from Nigeria, shows that the country could ramp up production in 2017 to about 2 million barrels per day.

BREAKING: Angola records first two cases of Zika virus.

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Angolan health officials said Monday they had recorded the country’s first two cases of the Zika virus, a French tourist and a resident in the capital Luanda.

 

The World Health Organization in November announced that the Zika virus no longer posed a global public health emergency after an outbreak centred on Brazil erupted in 2015.

 

The French tourist left Angola after being diagnosed with Zika two months ago, said Eusebio Manuel, head of the department of hygiene, without further details.

“The second case concerns an Angolan patient who lives in Luanda and was diagnosed last week,” he said, adding that the patient was still hospitalised.

 

Zika causes only mild symptoms in most people, but pregnant women with the virus risk giving birth to babies with microcephaly — a deformation that leads to abnormally small brains and heads.

 

In the outbreak that began in mid-2015, more than 1.5 million people have been infected with Zika, mainly in Brazil, and more than 1,600 babies have been born with microcephaly, according to the WHO.

Angola Overtakes Nigeria As Africa’s Top Oil Producer

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Nigeria has again lost its Africa’s top oil producer status to Angola, as the country’s crude oil production fell by 67,000 barrels per day last month, latest data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries have shown.

OPEC, in its Monthly Oil Market Report for April, which was released on Wednesday, put crude oil production from Nigeria at 1.677 million bpd in March based on direct communication, down from 1.744 million bpd in February.

Nigeria recorded the biggest drop in output in the month among its peers in OPEC, followed by Venezuela, based on direct communication.

Exports and production of Nigeria’s popular crude grade Forcados continued to be shut in due to a sabotage-related spill on the subsea Forcados pipeline.  The country has recently seen a rise in militant attacks in its main oil-producing region, the Niger Delta, denting oil production.

The country’s production figure for March was put at 1.722 million bpd by secondary sources, compared to 1.762 million bpd the previous month.

According to secondary sources, total OPEC crude oil production in March averaged

32.25 million bpd, a marginal increase of 15, 000 bpd over the previous month.

The 13-member oil cartel, said in the report, “Crude oil output increased mostly from Iran, Iraq and Angola, while production decreased in UAE, Libya and Nigeria.”

Angola saw its oil output rise to 1.782 million bpd last month from 1.767 million bpd in February, based on direct communication, according to the OPEC report.

The southern African country had in November 2015 overtaken Nigeria in output level as it produced 1.722 million bpd, compared to 1.607 million bpd produced by Nigeria, OPEC’s December report showed.

According to the latest monthly report, OPEC believes crude supply outside the producer group is set to fall more than expected, with weaker Chinese, Colombian, UK and US oil output eclipsing better outlooks for Canada, Norway, Oman and Russia.

The outlook for non-OPEC supply has been hit largely by lower expectations for crude oil production from China’s onshore mature fields.

OPEC also cited the postponement of major new projects due to reduced cash flow as the impact of lower prices takes its toll.

It now sees output falling by 730,000 bpd over the year, up from a previous estimate of 700,000 bpd, to average 56.39 million bpd in 2016.

OPEC also partly attributed the 20 per cent surge in oil futures in March to weaker non-OPEC supply in 2016, supply disruptions in Iraq and Nigeria, signs US shale is shrinking, along with expectations of a supply intervention plan by major crude exporters in Doha on April 17.

Death Toll From Yellow Fever In Angola Rises To 158 – WHO

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The Yellow Fever outbreak in Angola that began late last year has killed up to 158 people, an official of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has said.

 

The official, Mr Hernando Ospina, WHO representative in the country made the statement on Friday in Luanda.

 

He said that Luanda and other cities in the country had also recorded increase in the infection rate of malaria, cholera and chronic diarrhea.

 

He said that health officials in the country attributed the reason to breakdown in sanitation services and rubbish collection.

He said that city authorities had slashed their budget for rubbish collection to cope with budget crisis.

He said that this had resulted in accumulation of waste in poorer suburbs including Viana, where the first case of yellow fever was reported in late December.

“This is an urban pattern of outbreak of Yellow Fever and it is much more complicated to tackle and deal with.

“The possibility of spreading out to other provinces or even to all the country is much higher than if it had happened in a rural area,’ Ospina said.

 

Angola relies on crude exports for around 95 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings.

 

A sharp decline in oil prices since mid-2014 had hobbled Africa’s second biggest oil exporter, sending the country’s currency (kwanza) plummeting that necessitated deep cuts in public spending.

 

(PANA/NAN)

Angola’s President, In Power Since 1979, To Step Down In 2018

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One of the continent’s longest-serving leaders Jose Eduardo dos Santos said he will step down in 2018.

Angolan President, Jose Santos said on Friday that he planned to step down in 2018 after being at the helm since 1979, making him one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
“I took the decision to leave and end my political life in 2018,” Santos said.
According to the report, the country’s next election will be held in 2017. It quotes a speech he made to his MPLA party saying: “I took the decision to leave and end my political life in 2018.”

 

He came to power in 1979 – and is Africa’s second-longest serving head of state after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang.

 

Yellow Fever Outbreak In Angola Kills 37, Infects 191

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A yellow fever outbreak in Angola has killed 37 people since December with eight new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the country’s national director of health Adelaide de Carvalho says.

The outbreak of yellow fever, which is transmitted by mosquito bites, began in the Luanda suburb of Viana but has spread to other areas of the southern African country with 191 people infected so far.

Symptoms of yellow fever include sudden fever, severe headache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. God
help them.

Angola Overtakes Nigeria In Crude Oil Production

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Nigeria’s crude oil production fell by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November, making the country lose its status as Africa’s top oil producer to Angola, latest data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has shown. ¨Nigeria recorded the biggest drop in output in November among its peers in OPEC, followed by Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest producer.¨

OPEC, in its latest monthly oil market report, put crude oil production from Nigeria at 1.607 million bpd in November based on direct communication, down from 1.812 million bpd in October. ¨Angola also saw its oil output drop to 1.722 million bpd last month from 1.762 million bpd in October.
Meanwhile, the oil cartel will hold urgent talks, if crude prices don’t recover by February, according to OPEC president and Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu. “It is expected that the upward trend in oil prices will be seen by February next year.

If it does not happen, it is clear that OPEC will need to have a very urgent meeting,” Interfax quoted the OPEC president as saying. ¨On December 4, OPEC decided to keep the current output level of around 31.5 million barrels per day despite oversupply on the global oil market.¨On Monday, Brent and WTI benchmarks sank to lows not seen since 2009. Brent crude fell below $37 a barrel while the US benchmark WTI dropped to below $35 per barrel. ¨Crude prices rebounded slightly in early trading yesterday with Brent trading at $37.73 and WTI at $36.18 per barrel as of 8.36am GMT. ¨OPEC produced 31.7 million barrels per day in November. It is the highest output in over three years and 1.7 million barrels per day over its former production limit…”

Credit: ThisDay