FS

AIRLINES

40%

40% of food loss in Africa occurs at post-harvest and processing levels

Kenya and Rwanda flying higher

»Kenya Airways announced a $250 rights issue to fund its expansion plans. The IFC has committed $105m in equity and debt, part of which will include the purchase of shares worth $25m. Citigroup is also underwriting $2.8m of the rights issue, the region’s largest ever cash call. The airline will start direct flights to Indian capital New Delhi in May, making it the 57th destination and second in India after Mumbai. The new route highlights its targeting of the market in India and China.

Kenyan capital Nairobi is now a destination of Etihad Airways’ direct flights from Abu Dhabi. The twice-a-day, two-class A320 service is Etihad’s first to East Africa. One of the key drivers for traffic into Africa is Chinese investment, generating passenger demand in both directions. The airline already runs cargo services from Abu Dhabi to Nairobi and will continue to operate five freight services per week. Etihad also plans to launch flight services to Nigeria in July.

wanda received its first flight from Qatar Airways. The Kigali-Doha route, via Entebbe in Uganda, is operated by an Airbus A320 able to carry 144 passengers. Other Qatar Airways new routes include Libya, Uganda, Mombasa in Kenya, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and Zanzibar. Rwanda is fast emerging as a growing economic centre with strong links with Europe and the Far East. It has trade ties with the Middle East for exporting horticulture products, avocados, French beans and speciality coffee, and the new route is expected to attract high-end tourists from the Middle East. South African Airways and Turkish Airlines are expected to join Qatar Airways in operating the Kigali route this year.

ilateral trade between India and Ghana is expected to touch $1bn by 2013. It increased 52% to $818m in 2010–11 from $538m in 2009–10

$658m

Indian exports to Ghana are valued at $658m against imports of $160m

Foreign Direct Investment into subSaharan Africa has increased sixfold in the last 10 years and its composition is changing. This year China will invest more in African infrastructure than the World Bank

$26m

Zambian emeralds raised $26m from an auction of rough emeralds, an increase of 46% over a 15-month period basin, could raise output by at least 25,000 bpd, bringing total production to 75,000-80,000 bpd. Tanzania gas find British firm BG Group, in a joint venture with Ophir Energy, announced that one of its gas fields off the Tanzanian coast was bigger than expected and could lead to billions of pounds of investment. Ophir said the find was the largest discovery in the company’s history, and materially exceeded pre-drill estimates. Madagascar’s first production Madagascar could see production from its Tsimiroro field late this year, its first sustained production. Reserves on the field revised upwards by independent auditor Netherland, Sewell and Assoc rose by 75% to 1.7bn barrels. Angola/ROC sign agreement Neighbouring countries Angola and the Republic of Congo (ROC) are to jointly exploit the Lianzi cross-border oil field and share profits equally. Their agreement establishes mechanisms for sharing revenues from exploration of the oil reserve and for opening a joint account for depositing income generated by the field, which will be paid into an account held in an Angolan bank. The oil field, to be operated by Chevron, has estimated oil reserves of 67m barrels. Gabon refinery plans The government of Gabon and SK Energy (a Korean conglomerate) are planning to construct a $1bn refinery on Mandji Island. The new refinery would replace Sogara, the Gabonese Refining Company. Gabon still currently exports 95% of its crude oil, with the remaining 5% being processed locally by Sogara. The new refinery would be expected to process 50,000 barrels/day (against 21,000 barrels/day currently). Half will be exported, the remainder used locally. Comoros – the last oil frontier The island nation of Comoros may benefit from the massive natural gas deposits found off the coast of Mozambique by licensing acreage adjacent to it. The government has awarded its first oil exploration and production licence to privately-owned Kenya-based exploration company, Bahari Resources. A portion of the acreage licensed to Bahari is adjacent to Anadarko’s Area 1 and ENI’s Area 4 in Mozambique; both have seen 15 or more trillion cubic feet in discoveries. The government believe Comoros represents one of the last prospective offshore frontiers for oil and gas. Ghana oil storage Ghana’s Bulk Oil Storage company (BOST) will construct a $200m facility to store LPG and other petroleum products.

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African Business | May 2012