Page 13 - DMEA Week 48 2022

DMEA REFINING & FUELS DMEA

According to Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, value-added industries.”
Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Mines and “Cross-border cooperation is one of the key
Hydrocarbons, the MoU has been `designed tenets of Equatorial Guinea’s energy develop-
to provide support to the country’s “national ment strategy, as we aim to increase the availa-
mandate to facilitate the production and trade bility of affordable and accessible energy in our
of African petroleum products and create country and across the region,” he said. ™

PETROCHEMICALS
First ship delivering Russian fertiliser to

Africa en route to Mozambique

AFRICA THE first ship carrying Russian fertilisers to saying it wanted enough for its own farmers. The
Africa on its way to Mozambique and will UN said fertilis`er prices have risen a staggering
arrive in one month’s time, UN Secretary-Gen- 250% since before the pandemic in 2019.
eral’s Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on The cargo has been classed as a humanitar-
November 29. ian shipment of fertilisers, which were blocked
“The shipment will take about 30 days to in the Netherlands, Belgium and Estonia pre-
arrive in the port of Beira, in Mozambique, and viously until it was chartered by the United
from there, it will be transported overland to Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
Malawi,” he told reporters. As part of the renewal of the Istanbul grain
Russia has donated 260,000 tonnes of fer- deal on November 17, the Kremlin has been
tiliser it produced that was sitting in European pushing for restrictions on its own agricultural
ports and warehouses for use by farmers in exports to be eased. According to the Russian
Africa, according to the UN. Russia is the biggest foreign ministry, the deal was automatically
fertiliser producer in the world but is looking for extended since there were no objections from
new customers as a result of restrictions on ship- any of the parties to it (Russia, Ukraine, Turkey,
ping to the EU, previously its biggest customer. and the United Nations).
“The first shipment of 20,000 tonnes of fer- “The United Nations is continuing intense
tiliser left the Netherlands on a WFP-chartered diplomatic efforts with all parties to ensure the
vessel, MV Greenwich, starting today [Novem- unimpeded exports of critical food and fertil-
ber 29], destined for Malawi via Mozambique. isers from Ukraine and the Russian Federation,
It will be the first of a series of shipments of fer- exempt from sanction regimes, to the world
tiliser destined for a number of other countries markets,” the UN spokesman added.
on the African continent in the coming months,” The UN, meanwhile, has said it is worried
Dujarric said. about the possibility of a famine erupting in
The first ship is carrying fertiliser supplied by several African countries. These concerns have
Russian companies Uralchem and the Uralkali been echoed by many non-governmental organ-
group. isations (NGOs) such as the Red Cross, which
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Febru- estimates that 146mn people may now be going
ary 24, world fertiliser prices, already rising due hungry in Africa, with “large parts of Somalia,
to the COVID-19 pandemic, surged further, in Ethiopia and north-eastern Kenya facing one of
part due to quotas Moscow imposed on exports, the most severe droughts in 40 years.” ™

The fertiliser has was dispatched from port facilities in the Netherlands (Photo: UNTV/Uralchem)

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