Berbera International Airport officially opens after successful renovation by the UAE


The Berbera International Airport has officially opened its gates on November 20th. First built in the 1970s by the Soviet Union, the airport was in dire need of renovation and new equipment.

While the airport got a new terminal in 2015, its redevelopment and modernization really started in 2020 when the Berbera International Airport Company (BIAC) took over the facility.

The renovation works were carried out by Dubai-based company Transport Infrastructure Services Limited (TISL).

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had previously announced its plans to restore the Berbera Airport in 2019 after a six-day visit by Somaliland president Musa Bihi to the United Arab Emirates.

Ethiopian Airlines will start scheduled flights at Berbera International Airport every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday as of December 2nd this year.

The UAE remain Somaliland’s biggest investment partner and are also invested in the development of the Berbera Port to turn the city into a gateway to Somaliland. Last month, DP World partnered with the UK’s CDC Group to support the modernisation and expansion of ports and inland logistics across Africa, starting in the ports of Dakar (Senegal), Sokhna (Egypt) and Berbera (Somaliland).

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Nordic investors seek to invest into smart city projects across West Africa’s largest commercial city

The Nordic Nigeria Connect just closed in Lagos this week after welcoming delegations of investors from Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The conference was organized by Nordic countries to present several opportunities across waste and wastewater management, green energy and green transportation solutions across the State of Lagos. More importantly, the week highlighted Lagos’ leadership position in Nigeria when it comes to embracing sustainability. The State is in fact preparing a historic green bond issuance of NGN 25bn ($60m) under the Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme (NGBMDP). In order to modernize Lagos’ infrastructure, manage its waste and provide energy to its booming urban population, the state administration is looking at capital and technology from Europe. “Lagos generates on average 13,000 metric tonnes of waste day,” declared Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the opening of the conference this week. “This challenge represents a significant opportunity for investors seeking to turn waste into wealth such as energy or fertilizers” Negotiations around new deals on energy supply were also high on the agenda, especially as Lagos seeks to become more independent from the national grid. Earlier this year, the state made a case for a new energy policy that would see it develop and grow its own electricity market. Finally, sustainable transportation solutions were advanced as a way to support modern mobility systems across Lagos. These include both the expansion of the state’s Lagos Rail Mass Transit System but also the conversion of its public buses into compressed natural gas (CNG). Deal making and networking was notably supported throughout the week by the Nigerian Norwegian Chamber of Commerce, a not-for-profit bilateral institution established in 2015 to support business and commercial ties between Norway and Nigeria.

Angola’s Oil GDP to be back to positive in 2022 after six consecutive years in the red

Since 2012, Angola’s Oil GDP has grown only twice: in 2012 and 2015. But it is expected to grow again by +1.6% next year on the back of a projected marginal increase of about 2% in oil & gas output. Source: Angola’s Finance Ministry 2022 Budget Bets on 18,000 bopd Production Growth In its 2022 Budget Statement, Angola expects some of its existing producing offshore assets to support a marginal production growth of 18,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) on average. Growth would notably come from BP’s Block 18 (+45.1%), Somoil’s Block 2/05 (+44.5%), Eni’s Block 15/06 (+7.9%), and Chevron’s Block 0 (+2.1%). Block 18 is expected to see the most incremental production growth thanks to the coming onstream of the Platina subsea tieback project, where drilling started in late 2020. The project targets the development of 44m barrels of oil reserves to add about 20,000 bopd of production to the block’s daily output. The integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (iEPCI™) contract for the project was awarded to TechnipFMC. On its side, Eni should achieve peak production from the Ndungu and Cuica fields, where first oil was achieved respectively in May 2019 and July 2021. The Italian major is also expected to complete phase 2 of its Agogo subsea tieback project, where first oil was achieved in January 2020. As a result, Angola is betting on average oil production of 1,147,910 bopd next year, up from a projected average of 1,130,090 in 2021. Natural gas production is also expected to increase by 4.2% to 134,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). Source: ANPG Meanwhile, oil production will keep decreasing in other key producing assets but at a lesser pace than previous years. On Block 15, ExxonMobil is notably expected to start its drilling campaign next year, while TotalEnergies will also drill in Blocks 17 and 31 and put its Caril Pop-Up project onstream in Block 32. Consequently, production will decrease by “only” -9.6% in Block 15, -1.3% in Block 31, and -0.5 in Block 17, according to Angola’s Finance Ministry. Additional production on the back of strong oil prices necessarily mean that Angola will make money next year. The country is in fact expecting over 6 trillion kwanzas in oil revenue in 2022. This is about the same as what it will collect this year, but almost double its oil revenue of 2020. Details on all of Angola’s offshore oil blocks and projects are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.