Africa News

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom's Red Sea port city of Yanbu.Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not say when the attack took place.(Reuters - Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Dozens of people were feared dead after a ferry carrying 133 people capsized off the coast of Guyana late on Saturday, with authorities suggesting an inaccurate passenger list and drug use by the crew might have contributed to the situation.No survivors have been found since Sunday afternoon, when Guyanese authorities announced they had rescued 67 people, including 15 children.The captain and other crew members are now in police custody, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said at a press conference late on Sunday."Search and rescue is still in progress," Edghill said.

Oil prices gained more than 3% on Wednesday after Iran and the U.S. military traded airstrikes and Washington reimposed crude sales sanctions on Tehran, raising fears their fragile truce was unravelling and Middle East supplies could be disrupted again.Brent crude futures LCOc1 gained $2.40, or 3.2%, at $76.56 a barrel at 0645 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 climbed $2.26, or 3.2%, to $72.70 a barrel.Both benchmarks rose about 3% on Tuesday after the U.S. revoked…

Danish marine equipment supplier Svanehoj has secured its first contract to supply LNG tank gauging systems for the conversion of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier into a floating storage unit (FSU).The company will deliver four LNG density and temperature (LTD) gauging systems to Drydocks World Dubai for the conversion of the LNG carrier LNG Bayelsa into the FSU Cap Lopez.The conversion is being carried out for Dixstone Lower Gulf FZCO as part of a floating LNG development aimed at expanding Gabon's offshore gas infrastructure.

Faced with declining production post-2030, across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Majors have started the process of reloading exploration hoppers. Targeting predominantly deep and ultra-deep waters, they have signed numerous agreements aimed at unlocking acreage and discovering the next Namibia or Guyana. But while there have been agreements for acreage that were offered as part of traditional licensing rounds – such as the award to TotalEnergies of PPLs 2000 and 2001 in Nigeria in September 2025 – there has been an increasing trend to sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoU)…

SeaBird Exploration, a wholly owned subsidiary of SED Energy Holdings, has secured a contract for ocean bottom node (OBN) source work in West Africa.The company said the Fulmar Explorer vessel will be deployed for the campaign, which has a total duration of about three months, including mobilization and demobilization.Mobilization is expected to begin after the vessel completes its five-year classing, which is currently scheduled for August 2026."We are pleased to secure additional work for Fulmar Explorer, further strengthening our backlog.

Japanese offshore services company MODEC has secured a contract to supply a SOFEC internal turret mooring system for the Coral Norte floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project offshore Mozambique, being developed by Eni and its partners.MODEC is collaborating with the Technip Energies-JGC joint venture on the project to support integration and execution of the mooring system.The Coral Norte project is being developed by Eni together with CNPC, ENH, XRG and KOGAS.The project…

The world oil market will recover gradually from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz before tipping into a significant surplus in 2027, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil market report on Wednesday.The U.S. and Iran reached an agreement to end the three-month-old war, which includes Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. lifting its naval blockade, potentially bringing an end to the largest oil supply disruption in history which shut in over 14 million barrels per day of Middle East oil output…

Offshore services provider Bourbon has secured a multi-month subsea services contract for operations on the Jubilee field offshore Ghana, deploying the multi-purpose support vessel (MPSV) Bourbon Evolution 802 for a campaign covering inspection, maintenance and repair activities.The contract includes the use of the Bourbon Evolution 802, equipped with two work-class heavy-duty remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), to perform inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) services on subsea wellheads…

Siemens Energy on Thursday warned of possible wind turbine capacity cuts in Europe if governments fall behind in efforts to expand offshore power, saying a lack of determination could become an "existential threat" to the industry.The comments by one of Europe's biggest industrial firms reflect growing concerns about the future of the continent's manufacturing capabilities, which have come under intense pressure from high energy costs and Asian competitors.Europe is currently facing delays in its offshore expansion, hampered by regulatory challenges that have caused some developers to rethink

QatarEnergy has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Egyptian government and ExxonMobil to study the potential development and commercialization of gas discoveries in Cyprus through Egypt’s existing gas and LNG export infrastructure.The agreement will allow the parties to study future growth opportunities and commercial frameworks linked to Egypt’s gas infrastructure and its role as a regional energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean.The companies said the cooperation…

Oil prices edged higher on Thursday, as investors monitored peace talks between the United States and Iran, while supply tightness and U.S. inventory drawdowns provided some support.Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 40 cents, or 0.4%, to $105.42 a barrel by 0809 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 were up 50 cents, or 0.5%, at $98.76.Both benchmarks dropped around 5.6% on Wednesday to their lowest in more than a week after President Donald Trump said talks with Iran…

Oil fell by nearly 2% on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had paused a planned attack on Iran to allow for negotiations to end the war in the Middle East.Trump posted on social media on Monday that he was holding off on a planned military attack on Iran scheduled for Tuesday, while efforts continue to reach a deal, adding that the United States was ready to resume attacking if one is not reached.Brent futures LCOc1 for July were down $2.02, or 1.8%, to $110.08 a barrel at 0802 GMT, while U.S.

Oil prices extended gains on Monday as efforts to end the Iran war appeared to have stalled, after a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates came under attack and as U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to discuss military options on Iran.Brent crude futures LCOc1 climbed $1.65, or 1.51%, to $110.91 a barrel by 0703 GMT, but were off the $112 they had touched earlier for their highest since May 5.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 stood at $107.42 a barrel, up $2, or 1.9%, after a rise to $108.70, its highest since April 30.

Global oil supply will not meet total demand this year as the Iran war wreaks havoc on Middle East oil production, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil market report on Wednesday."With Hormuz tanker traffic still restricted, cumulative supply losses from Gulf producers already exceed 1 billion barrels with more than 14 million (barrels per day) of oil now shut in, an unprecedented supply shock," the agency said.Its base-case forecast is for a gradual resumption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz from the third quarter onwards…

The CMA CGM Group has signed a high-level framework agreement for joint cooperation with Keynan institutional authorities to develop Kenya’s logistics and port capacity.The objective is to accelerate solutions that support the growth of supply chain flows in and out of east and Central Africa including maritime demand, inland logistics and freight management.It has been signed as part of the Africa Forward Summit, and in the presence of the Presidents of the French and Kenyan Republics, M.

The Iran war has already led to a loss of about 120 billion cubic metres of global liquefied natural gas supply over the 2026 to 2030 period, Gergely Molnar, an analyst from the International Energy Agency, said on Thursday.Speaking at the Budapest LNG Summit, Molnar said the conflict was reshaping the medium-term gas outlook, with tighter market conditions likely to persist longer than previously expected.He said the crisis had cut LNG supply by around 15%, but a strong increase in new liquefaction capacity was expected to offset lost volumes from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.Iranian at

Suspected pirates have boarded a St. Kitts and Nevis-flagged general cargo vessel off Somalia's waters and were sailing it towards the Somali coastline, British maritime security groups Vanguard and Ambrey said.Somali pirates caused havoc in the waters off the Horn of Africa nation's long coastline between 2008 and 2018. After a lull, pirate activity started to pick up again in late 2023.Vanguard said in a note late on Sunday it was aware of reports that armed pirates had hijacked the vessel, Sward, in the vicinity of Godobjiran, Somalia.

ABL Group has signed a one-year master service agreement with offshore vessel operator Tidewater to provide marine assurance and dynamic positioning consultancy services.The agreement, entered into by ABL’s Egypt unit and Tidewater Marine Egypt, covers offshore support vessels operating in the Egyptian Mediterranean, as well as the Black Sea and wider European region.ABL said the scope includes support for vessel safety, performance and asset integrity, with services such as audits…

CoreMarine & Jumbo Offshore have announced the award of a significant contract to perform the transport and installation of the soft-yoke (SSY) mooring systems, and hook-up of both the Hilli Episeyo FLNG and MKII FLNG vessels, in Argentina’s Golfo San Matías. The award represents a milestone for both companies as well as a breakthrough project for Argentina’s gas sector as it ramps up in export capabilities.The contract has been awarded by Southern Energy S.A. (SESA), supported by an international consortium comprising Pan American Energy, YPF, Pampa Energía, Harbour Energy, and Golar LNG.

Ship-refuelling companies along Africa's coast are seeing a surge in business as more vessels divert around the Cape of Good Hope, with war in the Middle East reshaping global shipping routes and boosting the continent's role as a bunkering hub.Carriers have been avoiding the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait since late 2023, when Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping began. U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have reinforced the shift,…

The current oil and gas crisis triggered by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is "more serious than the ones in 1973, 1979 and 2022 together", Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told Le Figaro newspaper."The world has never experienced a disruption to energy supply of such magnitude," he said in an interview with the French newspaper released in its Tuesday edition.He said the European countries, as well Japan, Australia and others will suffer, but the countries most at risk were developing nations which will suffer from higher oil and gas prices…

Global stocks wavered on Tuesday, while oil prices were perched above $110 per barrel as the prospect of escalation in the war in the Middle East and the looming deadline for a deal to be reached kept nervy investors on the sidelines.Markets have been rattled since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran broke out at the end of February, with Tehran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil transit chokepoint that has spurred inflation worries.While investors have pinned their hopes on a resolution to the war, the talks so far have yielded no progress, with U.S.