Botswana News

Dubai based logistics giant DP World has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a free economic zone for industry and logistics in Namibia.The port operator said the agreement with Namibia’s Nara Namib Free Economic Industrial Zone will support the growth of Namibia as a regional hub for southern Africa.The development will help Namibia grow as a center for industrial operations and logistics, creating opportunities and jobs across multiple sectors including agriculture, fishing, automotive and mining.The facility at Walvis Bay will provide businesses with development-ready land for industrial and logistics operations…

TransNamib Holdings Ltd, and Botswana Railways (BR) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Gaborone, Botswana, which will culminate in the development and operation of a container terminal in Gobabis.The MoU, signed by TransNamib CEO, Johny Smith, and his Motswana counterpart, Leonard Musa Makwinja, signals the beginning of a fruitful and beneficial relationship to develop and enhance trade between the two countries. The MoU was .“The future of railways offers many opportunities”, said. The cooperation is also expected to facilitate in opening import and export opportunities, and to unlock value on the TransKalahari route–even though the two countries are not completely linked by rail yet.Furthermore…

Guyana's Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman said while there is no perfect contract, the government is comfortable with the terms and conditions spelt out in the Stabroek Petroleum agreement between itself and ExxonMobil and prefers a long-term, stable relationship with one exploration company rather than several. “We recognised that we had with us a company that had made a discovery, had a binding contract with the government and people of Guyana which had been signed in 1999, was brave and committed to developing the resource, had the capacities [both] financial and technical capacity to do so and government believed that it should enter into a long-term stable relationship with this company,” Minister Trotman said.

Glencore looks set to cement its position as the world's second-largest oil trader as it tries to offset low volatility and tight margins with record volumes this year, its global head of oil, Alex Beard, told Reuters. The London-listed commodities trader and miner will shift around 6 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and refined product this year, up 25 percent from last year. The figure represents around 6 percent of global supply and only rival Vitol trades more oil, at some 7 million bpd. Most merchants are being forced to ramp up volumes to protect profits in an environment of low volatility. "We don’t set targets in terms of volumes," Beard told the annual Reuters Global Commodities Summit.

ExxonMobil's $19 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea, which is shipping its first cargo, is set to dramatically transform one of Asia-Pacific's most unstable countries, for better or for worse. The LNG venture, which is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over 30 years, is the largest private investment in the South Pacific nation's history. ExxonMobil is relying on projects like this one for much-needed production growth, while the Papua New Guinea government hopes it might double its $15 billion dollar economy, now slightly larger than Botswana's. But sharing the spoils of resource projects has previously torn apart a country that is seen as one of the most corrupt in the world…

CMA CGM announced the launch of its new KHULU Line dedicated to the U.S. With the addition of its newest line, CMA CGM now offers its customers eight services with a weekly call in South Africa. The line’s first sailing will be MV GREY FOX voy. 7S001R, ETD Houston on May 7, 2014. KHULU’s rotation is: Houston, Walvis Bay, Cape Town, Durban, Maputo, Richards Bay, Houston. CMA CGM said the line will bring onward transportation to the heart of Southern Africa countries (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland) through Durban gateway.

APR Energy, a company in fast-track power solutions, announced today the signing of a mobile gas turbine contract to provide fast-track power to an industrial customer in the South Pacific. The plant will comprise mobile gas turbines producing a guaranteed 60MW and will power the customer's mining operations. APR Energy's fuel-efficient mobile turbine plant was the customer's preferred solution, meeting strict EU emissions requirements and able to fit within the challenging space constraints at the mine site. APR Energy's plant will run on diesel and offers the flexibility to seamlessly switch to natural gas if needed. The project adds to APR Energy's track record in the extractive industry sector that includes successful power projects in Mozambique, Guatemala, and Botswana.