Page 12 - AfrOil Week 17 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

In turn, the officials said, the shortfalls are dis- VOA went on to quote Simon Pierre Omgba
rupting trade and transport. Without access to Mbida, an international relations specialist at
diesel fuel, they explained, thousands of cars, the External Relations Ministry of Cameroon,
buses and trucks have been stranded on the as saying that he expected most African states
roads. This includes hundreds of freight trucks to suffer economic harm as a result of Euro-
bound for Chad and the Central African Repub- pean reactions to the Russia-Ukraine war. The
lic now stuck at the border and unable to deliver EU should not assume that the African Union
their goods, they added. and its 55 member states will always agree with
Moise Vokeng, the president of the Came- Brussels on policy issues, he declared. Instead, it
roon Professional Transporters Network, was should recognise that each African country has
quoted by VOA as saying that the fuel short- its own interests and makes its own decisions in
ages had the potential to cause major damage to line with those interests. ™
Cameroon’s economy if the government did not
take action quickly.
Shipments of perishable goods have begun
rotting because transport companies have been
unable to secure fuel since mid-April, he noted,
adding that drivers have been surprised to see
that Yaounde has not managed to improve sup-
ply conditions for so long.
One such driver, Brilliant Chaba, told VOA
that fuel shortages had already caused him to fall
three days behind schedule part way through a
delivery run from the Cameroonian port of
Douala to the Chadian capital of N’djamena.
Chaba also said he was running out of the
money needed to pay for food, shelter and park-
ing fees in the city of Yaounde. Douala is the main port of entry for freight shipments to Chad (Photo: CNCC.cm)

Mozambique to launch sovereign

wealth fund by October, minister says

MOZAMBIQUE MOZAMBIQUE’S $96bn sovereign wealth Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) and Mozambique’s
fund should be up and running by October state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocar-
2022, Finance Minister Max Tonela has said. bonetos (ENH).
Bloomberg quoted Finance Minister Max Tonela said on April 24 that Mozambique’s
Tonela as saying on Sunday (April 24) that the government needed to ensure that the govern-
government was finalising draft legislation that ance of the fund was “robust enough.” He did
will govern the management of the fund. not elaborate, but Bloomberg noted that the
The bill provides for the fund to be sup- country’s central bank had published a pro-
ported by revenue that the government earns posed model for a fund capable of accumulat-
from natural gas projects that are being carried ing savings and contributing to fiscal stability in
out by international oil companies (IOCs) in the the event of fluctuations in commodity prices in
southern African country. It is due to take effect October 2020. That model called for 50% of the
just before the country’s first LNG project, Coral state’s gas revenue to be deposited into the fund
South LNG, comes on stream later this year. and the other 50% used to fund budget spending
Coral South LNG is being led by the Italian during the first 20 years after the start of LNG
major Eni. The company and its partners have production, the news agency said.
deployed a floating LNG (FLNG) vessel at Coral, The finance minister did not say when the
a field within the Area 4 block in the Rovuma draft legislation would be submitted for a vote.
Basin, located off the coast of Mozambique’s Around 180 trillion cubic feet (5.1 trillion
northernmost Cabo Delgado province. The cubic metres) of natural gas in recoverable
project carries a price tag of $4.6bn, making it reserves has been found in Mozambique, the
the smallest of the three LNG schemes now tar- world’s third poorest country. Most of it is off-
geting fields in the Rovuma basin. shore in the Rovuma basin, where the consortia
Eni is the operator of the project, and its led by international oil companies (IOCs) are
partners are ExxonMobil (US), China National working. Smaller finds have been made onshore,
Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), Galp (Portugal), in the southern part of the country. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 17 27•April•2022