Newscast - Africa

Golden Star Resources Limited says the agreement with Future Global Resources to trade off 90 percent interest in the Bogoso-Prestea Gold Mine will not affect jobs.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of Golden Star, Andrew Wray, who gave the assurance, said the new owner will not only maintain the existing workforce to ensure continuity in its operations, but will also ensure environmental sustainability.

The agreement between Golden Star Resources and Future Global Resources, demands that an initial purchase price of $55 million shall be paid with a further contingent component of up to US$40 million staged payments to ensure Future Global Resources focuses investment capacity on the asset itself, while providing Golden Star with exposure to its long-term growth potential.

Golden Star however says operations will continue at the Prestea underground operation, which includes the use of alimak mining on 24 Level and long hole open stooping mining activities on the newly developed 17 Level.

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The United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), a leading pan-African financial services group, has acted as the lead arranger of a consortium of Nigerian commercial and international banks in a $1.5 billion pre-export finance (PXF) facility for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its upstream subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

The bank is providing $200 million (N78 billion at I&E exchange rate of N390/$1) to support investment growth and liquidity requirements.

A statement from the bank on Tuesday explained that the facility would provide the much-needed capital for investment in NNPC’s production capacity, which is of strategic importance to the Nigerian economy and the country’s leading source of foreign exchange earnings.

Other participants in the NNPC deal included Standard Chartered Bank, Afrexim Bank, Union Bank and two oil trading companies, Vitol and Matrix.

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The Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions has suspended the probe of the United Bank for Africa.

The panel, led by the Chairman, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, had last week Tuesday, summoned the management of the bank to appear before it on Wednesday (today).

Akinyelure had said that the bank was being summoned over an alleged N41bn indebtedness to the creditors and liquidators of the defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited and the Mobile Telecommunications Limited.

The panel’s summons followed a petition sent to it by J. U Ayogu and Co. on behalf of NITEL/MTEL.

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The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency on Tuesday increased the ex-depot price of petrol by N6 to N138.62/litre for the month of August 2020.

Oil marketers stated that based on the latest increase in ex-depot price, the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, could be between N149/litre and N150/litre this month.

The Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, told our correspondent that the PPPRA, however, did not tell marketers the new pump price for petrol.

He said the Pump price might be announced today.

Maigandi added that with the N6/litre increase in ex-depot price, the projection is that the pump price will be around N149/litre or N150/litre, based on our usual computations.”

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The Federal Government on Tuesday said China is becoming apprehensive about releasing loans to Nigeria following probes by the National Assembly on loans earlier released to Nigeria by the Asian nation.

The government insisted that no nation could recolonise Nigeria as a result of Nigeria’s indebtedness, it cautioned lawmakers not to hamper its ability to access international funds.

The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, and the Minister of Justice/Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said this in a live television programme in Abuja.

Both ministers argued that Nigeria’s sovereignty was not at risk in the country’s loan agreements with China, as recently claimed by the National Assembly.

Amaechi said the probe by the National Assembly had made some Chinese to think that Nigeria was probing the loan agreements in order not to repay the about $2bn so far collected from China.

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The federal government said it is pushing fast for Nigerians to adopt natural gas as an alternative to petrol and diesel for transportation vehicles.

It stated that it has set up a committee to drive the adoption of Autogas and natural gas vehicles in the country.

Justice Derefaka, who is the Technical Adviser (TA) on Gas Business and Policy Implementation to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, disclosed this in a statement.

Derefaka explained that a meeting was recently held in Abuja between the Committee of the National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) and some stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, in which the decision to press forward on the mainstreaming of gas for transport in Nigeria was reached.

According to him, the NGEP was inaugurated by Sylva in January 2020, as the mechanism to boost domestic utilisation of natural gas within the short and medium term.

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The government has urged pharmaceutical firms to have six weeks' worth of drugs stockpiled, in readiness for the end of the Brexit transition period.

The Department of Health in a letter to medical suppliers said there would be no extension to the transition period after 31 December.

The department acknowledged that global supply chains were under pressure because of the coronavirus crisis.

But it said having reserve stocks would provide a buffer against disruption.

The department's letter said to build upon past work and ensure a co-ordinated approach, we will be asking suppliers to confirm their contingency plans for the end of the transition period.

The call from the government comes amid continued uncertainty about what form the UK's relationship with the EU will take after the transition period ends.

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US aviation regulators on Monday spelled out new requirements for the Boeing 737 MAX before the grounded jet is permitted to fly again.

The agency in a notice set for a 45-day public comment said the Federal Aviation Administration will require a number of changes to address the unsafe condition of the aircraft.

The jet has been grounded since March 2019 following two deadly crashes.

Some of the changes have been publicly discussed by Boeing, such as upgrades to an anti-stall system that has been seen as a factor in both crashes, and modification to a sensor system that had played a role in the accidents.

Other requirements include installing new software and revising the flight manual to mandate new crew procedures.

An FAA spokesman said the requirements do not include new pilot training protocols. Those will be announced later and put out for public comment at a later date.

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BP has halved its dividend and reported a record $6.7bn quarterly loss after the coronavirus pandemic hit global demand for oil.

The dividend cut is a blow for UK pension funds, many of whom have large shareholdings in BP.

The loss was largely due to BP writing down the value of its assets after it cut its oil price forecasts.

The FTSE 100 company said the outlook for oil prices and demand remains challenging and uncertain".

It also warned that the pandemic could weigh on the global economy for a sustained period.

In the short-term, BP said it expected demand for oil could be up to nine million barrels per day lower compared to last year.

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Donald Trump says the government should get a cut from the sale of TikTok's US unit if an American firm buys it.

The US president said he made a demand for a substantial portion of the purchase price in a phone call at the weekend with Microsoft's boss.

He also warned he will ban the app, which is owned by China's ByteDance, on 15 September if there is no deal.

ByteDance is under pressure to sell its US business after Mr Trump threatened a crackdown on Chinese tech companies.

The Trump administration has accused TikTok and others of providing data to the Chinese government, which Beijing and TikTok deny.

Trump said the United States should get a very large percentage of that price, because we're making it possible.

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