East Africa: Oil exploration's new frontier

 

Solo has a 12.5 percent stake in the Ruvuma PSA alongside FTSE100 constituent Tullow Oil and fellow AIM-listed oil explorer Aminex.

Oil exploration stories were dominated by the Falklands, Iraq and the North Sea in 2010.
This year the new frontier promises to be East Africa, with a handful of juniors active in region.
Talking to Proactive Investors recently, Daniel Stewart analyst Richard Nolan highlighted the growing momentum in East Africa.
 "We are seeing a lot more activity on this side of the continent," he said.
Of course the smaller operators have been boosted by the recent success of major oil companies such as BG Group (LON:BG) and Anadarko (NYSE:APC), which have made significant discoveries in the area.
Indeed, BG's discovery was 'very significant' as it proved the existence of a working hydrocarbon system in deep-water Tanzania.
Here we look at three AIM-listed oil firms with big plans in the under-developed east side of Africa.

Solo Oil (LON:SOLO): Partnering Tullow Oil in Tanzania

The Ruvuma production agreement (PSA) covers a 12.360 square kilometre area in Tanzania. It is roughly 80 percent onshore and 20 percent offshore.
Solo has a 12.5 percent stake in the Ruvuma PSA alongside FTSE100 constituent Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) and fellow AIM-listed oil explorer Aminex (LON:AEX).
One well has already been drilled successfully, with the onshore Likonde-1 well encountering thick sands with hydrocarbon shows.
Further exploration is expect in 2011, and Solo recently told investors that it was suitably funded to participate alongside its joint venture partners.

Dominion Petroleum (LON:DPL): Important Seismic Results Due in New Year 

Dominion has a significant portfolio of exploration assets in east Africa, with interests in both on- and offshore Tanzania, as well as a controlling stake in an exploration license in the Albertine Rift Basin, Uganda.
It also has an interest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is partnered with Soco International (LON:SIA) and the DRC's state oil company to explore 'Block 5'.
This year Dominion shot 1,236 square kilometres of 3D seismic in deep-water Tanzania, with a view to identify drill targets on its Alpha and Beta prospects, as well as three others on Block 7.
The seismic results are expected in Q2 2011.
Meanwhile, a separate seismic survey is planned for early 2011 in the Lake Edward basin - which straddles Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It plans to acquire over 300 kilometres of seismic data, in what will be the first ever cross-border 2D seismic survey on the basin.
The survey is expected to last three to four months.
Dominion's prospects onshore in Tanzania were dampened slightly in early December after  Kianika-1 well, where it holds a 10 per cent interest, was plugged and abandoned after it failed to find hydrocarbons.
Analysts claimed it was likely that Dominion would relinquish its stake in the Mandawa licence – which hosts Kianika – after the disappointing result.

Madagascar Oil (LON:MOIL): Huge Potential, Uncertain Future

The company was founded in 2004 and listed on AIM late in 2010. It owns five contiguous heavy oil blocks covering 29,500 square kilometres in western Madagascar.
The two main fields are Tsimiroro and Bemolanga, and contain substantial heavy oil and bitumen accumulations.
An independent 'best estimate' puts the oil in place at Tsimiroro at 965 million barrels
Production, if commercial recovery is proven, is estimated to average 87,500 barrels of oil a day for between 30 and 40 years.
Despite its well supported £50.5 million placing and listing in November, MOIL ended the year under a cloud.
Its shares were suspended in mid-December when it emerged that the Ministry of Oil on the island was interested in buying the company's licences.
Madagascar warned: "There can be no guarantee that any price agreed for such an acquisition will be representative of the fair value of such assets.
"However, the company has obtained legal advice that all of its licences are valid and that the obligations on both parties are legally binding.
"Madagascar Oil intends to robustly defend its position."
The company stressed that any deal would exclude the Bemolanga licence, which is partly owned by international oil giant Total.



http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/24290/east-africa-oil-explorations-new-frontier--24290.html

Un nouveau virus menace le système d'exploitation Android de Google en Chine

Le Monde

Un virus s'attaquant aux téléphones mobiles utilisant le système d'exploitation Android de Google a été détecté en Chine. Baptisé Geinimi, il peut s'emparer de nombreuses données personnelles stockées sur le téléphone d'un utilisateur et les envoyer vers des serveurs.

"Une fois que ce logiciel malveillant est installé sur un téléphone, il a la capacité d'obéir aux ordres d'un serveur, permettant à l'opérateur de ce serveur de contrôler le téléphone", précise Lookout Mobile Security, un éditeur d'antivirus spécialisé dans les mobiles.

EXTRÊMEMENT SOPHISTIQUÉ

Selon l'éditeur, ce virus est extrêmement "sophistiqué", bien plus que "les précédentes tentatives de logiciels malveillants visant Android".
La société, qui ne connaît pas les finalités de cette attaque, précise que seuls des utilisateurs téléchargeant des applications d'Android en Chine sont susceptibles d'être affectés.


http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2010/12/31/un-nouveau-virus-menace-le-systeme-d-exploitation-android-de-google-en-chine_1459653_651865.html#xtor=RSS-3208

Indictments Expected In Gibson Guitar Raid

WSMV

Company Accused Of Illegally Importing Wood

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Newly-filed court documents show criminal indictments are expected against Gibson Guitar after a federal raid In November 2009.

Those details are from an affidavit filed by one of the Fish and Wildlife service agents investigating the case.

Wood from the island nation of Madagascar was seized at the Gibson Guitar factory during the raid.

There are accusations the company has been illegally harvesting a type of wood from Madagascar, sending it to Germany and then importing it to the United States.


http://www.wsmv.com/news/26314181/detail.html

Le Soudan sous surveillance satellitaire

Le Griot

Écrit par Corinna Leblanc-Justin Indiscrétions déc 30, 2010

L'ONU, l'université américaine d'Havard, Google et la star hollywoodienne, George Clooney, au travers de son ONG « Not on our Watch » (« Pas devant nos yeux » en français), vont lancer conjointement le « Satellite Sentinel Project ». Il s'agit d'un dispositif de surveillance du Sud-Soudan via un satellite afin de capturer des images pour prévenir les éventuels cas de violations des Droits de l'homme, lesquels pourraient subvenir à l'occasion du référendum 9 au 15 janvier 2011 portant sur l'autodétermination du Sud-Soudan. »Nous voulons que les auteurs potentiels de génocide ou d'autres crimes de guerre sachent que nous les voyons, que le monde les regarde » a déclaré George Clooney, un des piliers de cette initiative qu'il appelle « paparazzi antigénocide » dans le Time. Pour ce faire, les rôles sont bien répartis : pendant que l'ONG financera le projet, le programme d'application satellitaire opérationnel de l'ONU (Unosat) s'occupera de la collecte des images, Havard prendra en charge le côté recherche et analyse et Google vulgarisera les informations recueillies par internet.A l'approche de ce référendum historique, la séparation du Sud Soudan d'avec les institutions centrales de Karthoum semble inéluctable pour la majorité des observateurs. Parmi les multiples enjeux, le contrôle du pétrole de la région d'Abyeï, située tout au centre du pays, est certainement le plus important. Sa population devra également, en parallèle du processus référendaire, choisir de rallier le Nord ou le Sud. Dans ce contexte, toutes les inquiétudes internationales sont donc justifiées. De surcroît, dans un pays dirigé par Omar El Béchir, sous le coup d'un mandat d'arrêt international de la CPI pour crimes de guerre et contre l'humanité commis au Darfour, région dans laquelle la guerre civile a fait 300 000 morts selon l'ONU.


http://www.legriot.info/838-le-soudan-sous-surveillance-satellitaire/

Satellite data reveals fires in region plagued by illegal logging in Madagascar

wildmadagascar.org
December 27, 2010


New satellite data reveals active burning in Sava, a region in Madagascar that has been ravaged by illegal logging for rosewood and other valuable rainforest timber.

Click to enlarge

According to data provided by the Fire Alert System, a joint monitoring program run by NASA, Conservation International and the University of Maryland, more than 1,100 fires have burned in Andapa, Antalaha, Sambava, and Vohimarina—districts where the bulk of Madagascar's illegal logging is taking place—since October 1. Roughly a quarter of these fires have burned in, or on the margins, of forest areas. A handful of fires have occurred in protected areas, including Masoala National Park, a World Heritage Site that has been besieged by illegal logging since last year. A biological survey in October turned up evidence of as many as 10,000 people living in the park.

The remote sensing data seems to support on-the-ground reports of a large number of fires in the region. Dry conditions are likely a contributing factor—the rainy season is late this year, so annual fires set for land-clearing are burning longer than usual. Politic conditions may also be a factor: since last year's military coup, governance in Madagascar has been substantially weakened. As a result, there is less control over illegal fire-setting and logging.

Nevertheless, while the aggregate number of fires for October through December 2010 are higher than normal, they are down from the year earlier period, when more than 1,300 were recorded. The number of fires burning in forest areas is similar over the past two years, but markedly higher than 2008 and 2007, the first year the Fire Alert System was operational.



Neighboring regions are also seeing heavy burning. Analanjirofo, the region which contains parts of Makira and Masoala protected areas, had 553 forest fires in October and November, up from 421 a year earlier. Diana, which houses Analamerana and Andavakoera-Andrafiamenta-Ambohipiraka protected areas, and Sofia, which borders Makira, had more than 500 forest fires during the two months.

Final data for December 2010 will be available next month, making annual comparisons more complete.


http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1227-sava_fires.html

Devastation, Madagascar

Mediacoop.ca

France's Total and US based Madagascar Oil tangle with military governments to push tar sands projects forward

by Macdonald Stainsby

Total's proposed tar sands operation in Madagascar is potentially the dirtiest mining operation its kind in the world, in a region where the local people have few options but to live next to it. If, as some charge, Total helped bring down a democratically elected government in order to install a regime that would favour their tar sands project, it's likely that international campaigns against Total and their social and environmental record could well expand.

In 2008 Total bought a 60% stake in the Bemolanga tar sands field, a field that they predict may operate at just under 200 000 barrels per day of bitumen using strip mining techniques developed in Alberta, Canada. The bitumen is less 'pure' in place, which means it will produce more toxic tailings and require even more water usage than the already notorious strip mines north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. If developed, the Bemolanga mine would rival the largest of the mines in operation today.

Not unlike Alberta, for at minimum of 20 years after the start of operations, Madagascar will only receive 1% in royalty payments from this development. An index published by the World bank ranks Madagascar as the 12th poorest country in the world, wedged between Nepal and Afghanistan.
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Lettre au Père Noël : Je veux de l’électricité comme cadeau pour le Sénégal.

Mondoblog

Bonjour Papa Noël :
En ce jour de noël (votre jour préféré) et du nouvel an qui sera célébré dans quelques jours, Je voulais simplement vous dire que, quand vous descendrez du ciel avec vos jouets familiers, n'oubliez pas mon cadeau. Je veux de l'électricité !!! Rien que de l'électricité !!!

La SENELEC  nous électrocute  chaque jour

Papa Noel, l'électricité est un vrai problème dans mon pays. Malgré plus de 500 milliards de F CFA qui auraient été injectés dans la SENELEC, la Société Nationale d'Electricité ne parvient toujours pas à offrir aux usagers un service digne et satisfaisant et continue de plonger mon pays dans l'obscurité et l'insécurité la plus totale. Tous les secteurs de l'économie, tous les ménages sont touchés, aucun Sénégalais n'est épargné, même ta ville préférée de Ziguinchor est touchée. Les hôpitaux sont souvent délestés. Il y a quelques mois, trois enfants prématurés sont morts dans les crèches, suite à ces longues coupures. Je vous présente toutes mes condoléances.

Lire la suite...