Category: Oil
New Paper: The Role of China in the Middle East and North Africa. Beyond Economic Interests?
The European think tank network EuroMeSCo (the Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission) published one of the year's most extensive analyses of China's growing influence throughout the Middle East and North African regions with extensions into the Persian Gulf. The 109-page report ...
Trying to Make Sense of the Proposed China-Iran Deal
How one perceives the proposed China-Iran partnership agreement, which is reportedly close to completion, likely depends on where you're from and how you regard both these regional powers. In exchange for greater access to Iran's financial services, telecommunications, and infrastructure market, ...
Why We Should All Just Take a Breath and Ignore the Hype Surrounding the Proposed China-Iran Deal
News that China and Iran were in late-stage talks to finalize a 25-year, $400 billion deal generated an alarming response in the U.S. and Europe, prompting widespread concern that a new, enhanced partnership between these two countries would mark a dramatic challenge to United States hegemony and ...
15-Years Ago Three African Countries Were Among China’s Top Oil Suppliers, Today Only One’s Left
Amid the ongoing discussions surrounding African debt restructuring and the proposed multibillion-dollar China-Iran comprehensive partnership agreement, China's oil procurement is a through-line that binds some of these disparate issues together. After all, Angola accounts for approximately a third of ...
Why Africa’s Oil Exporters Should be Very Concerned About the Proposed China-Iran Mega-Deal
Iran and China are reportedly nearing completion of a wide-ranging oil-for-infrastructure deal that would pave the way for billions of dollars of Chinese investment in Iran's energy, telecommunications and financial service sectors in exchange for a 25-year supply of oil.
Two Opposing Views of the Controversial New $2.8 Billion Chinese-financed AKK Pipeline in Nigeria
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari launched production last week of a vast, new multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline that will cross almost the entire country. The 614-kilometer Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline is one of Nigeria's largest infrastructure projects to date and will ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: Iraq’s Controversial Plan to Trade Oil For Infrastructure With China
This month, our review of the media reports published in the wider Mediterranean region focuses on the debate surrounding the “oil-for-reconstruction” agreement between Iraq and China; Sino-French competition in Morocco, Algeria, and Lebanon; the Iranian discussion about the relations with China; and continuing criticism from a number ...
China Says It’ll Work With Angola on G20 Debt Relief, But Remains Vague About Status of Bilateral Loans
The Chinese government on Wednesday reaffirmed its position that it will cooperate with the G20's ongoing debt relief initiative in Africa but refused to provide any specific details about how Beijing plans to reschedule its vast loan portfolio in Africa, specifically in Angola.
China’s Oil Imports from Angola Continue Recovery
Angola was China’s fifth top crude oil supplier in April, customs data showed, with imports rising 23.8% from the same month a year earlier. In the first four months of 2020, Chinese imports from Angola are still negative, despite the recovery. ...
Rebound in Chinese Manufacturing Provides a Small, Badly Needed Boost to African Oil Prices
New data confirming that China's manufacturing sector is slowly coming back to life helped to give a badly needed boost to African commodity and currency prices on Tuesday. China's Purchasing Managers Index, a key metric that measures factory activity, jumped to ...
China Bankrolled Massive Borrowing Among Africa’s Major Oil Exporters But What Happens Now That Crude Prices Have Crashed?
Consider that on Thursday, February 20th, the price of a barrel of Angolan Cabinda oil was $62.19. Yesterday, just 26 days later, the price had fallen by almost half to $32.21. Given the fact that this is ...
As Oil Prices Tumble, COVID-19 Rapidly Escalates From a Health Crisis to a Full-Blown Economic Crisis in Africa’s Crude-Exporting Countries
When oil trading started today in Asia, sellers moved quickly to unload their positions prompting a "cataclysmic collapse" that saw prices plunge by a stunning 31%, the single largest price drop in almost 30 years. The sell-off ...