In an era in which raising finance for major hydrocarbons projects was increasingly challenging, the developers of such projects in Africa should consider segmenting them and separately seeking finance for each segment. That advice was given by Africa Finance Corporation Senior Associate Shao Olumide. He was participating in a panel discussion at the 2024 African Refiners and Distributors Association conference, in Cape Town. Globally, investors were moving away from hydrocarbons projects, including fossil fuel refineries, he pointed out. But investors not willing to invest in a refinery itself might very well be prepared to invest in infrastructure ancillary to, but essential for, the operation of the refinery, such as roads, piers and other port or terminal infrastructure.

The World Bank is advising South Africa’s National Treasury on a climate risk strategy after floods in recent years caused billions of dollars of damage. The country may take out climate insurance or establish a contingency fund to deal with major adverse weather events, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as a public announcement hasn’t been made. Municipalities could also be incentivised to invest in infrastructure and other measures to reduce the impact of unexpected weather events, the person said.

ASX-listed Invictus Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that could lead to a maiden gas offtake agreement with Dallaglio Investments, involving the supply of gas to the Eureka gold mine, in Zimbabwe.

Invictus will supply natural gas from the Cabora Bassa project, in Zimbabwe, as feedstock for the Dallaglio’s proposed gas-to-power (GtP) plant.

NYSE- and JSE-listed petrochemicals company Sasol says its energy business benefitted from higher basic fuel prices, as well as improved refining margins towards the end of the nine months ended March 31, which helped to offset operational headwinds at the group’s mining and Secunda operations.

Sasol’s mining productivity has improved albeit at a slower pace than expected. The group expects to meet the lower end of its coal productivity guidance range of between 975 t and 1 100 t per continuous miner per shift for the full-year ending on June 30.

Diversified mining company Anglo American is taking steps to help to restore an Amazon rainforest equivalent of which less than 10% remains intact. The Mata Atlántica carbon forest is located near Anglo’s Minas-Rio iron-ore mine, in Brazil.

JSE-listed Murray & Roberts (M&R) has announced that Terra Nova Technologies (TNT), in joint venture with Ingeniería y Construcción Sigdo Koppers, has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with a large copper producer for a mine in South America. The contract value is about $200-million, with TNT’s share in the joint venture being 51%.

The richness of South Africa’s copper assets were emphasised on Monday when Northern Cape mine developer and explorer Orion Minerals published a standout intercept that sent its shares rocketing up 58% on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Orion, headed by CEO Errol Smart, is primarily listed on the ASX, where it has 1 300 shareholders, and secondarily listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), where it has 28 000 shareholders.

Brazil-based global major aerospace group Embraer – the world’s number three maker of jet airliners – has released its deliveries and order backlog report for the first quarter of this year (1Q24). Deliveries of its commercial and executive (or business) aircraft types was up 67%, year-on-year. And its order backlog was the highest it has been in seven years. The order backlog, at the end of 1Q24, stood at $21.1-billion, a 13% increase over the figure for 4Q23. During 1Q24, the company’s commercial jets (airliners) order backlog increased by $2.3-billion (a 26% jump, quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q)), and its business jet order backlog rose by $4.6-billion (a 7% rise q-o-q). Its services and support backlog neither rose nor fell, while its defence and security backlog (at $2.4-billion) declined by -4%. (Recent selections, by some countries, of the Embraer C-390 airlifter for their air forces, have not yet been incorporated into the defence and security backlog.)

JSE-listed real estate investment trusts Balwin and Attacq will open six new rooftop padel courts at the Mall of Africa in Waterfall City as demand for the lifestyle sport gains momentum. Four of the courts will be covered and the venue will also host the first Balwin Padel Club, with amenities such as locker and shower facilities for players.

South Africa is playing all sides when it comes to foreign policy as the country seeks to position itself as a leading voice of the Global South, and the approach seems to be working — so far. The Brics group of developing nations held its annual summit in South Africa last year and the Group of 20 is set to follow suit in 2025, highlighting Pretoria’s growing international sway. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s efforts to secure vaccines for Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic, help broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine and bring a genocide case against Israel at the International Criminal Court over its Gaza campaign have further enhanced its profile, despite the mixed results.