Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea in $1.5bn oil deal
Posted by By Our reporter at 5 February, at 14 : 45 PM
ZIMBABWE and Equatorial Guinea are set to sign an oil deal worth US$1.5 billion. The Middle African country will provide credit lines to the Zimbabwe government specifically for oil, and the Zimbabwe government will in turn provide access to mining rights.
President Robert Mugabe and Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo are said to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Harare when the latter paid a state visit on January 9, 2012.
The two leaders also discussed the situation on the African continent, especially events taking place in North Africa.
Sources told The Zimbabwe Guardian that the two leaders also discussed the establishment of a commodity market for Africa which will rival regional markets, for instance in Europe.
The US$1.5 billion deal will help alleviate Zimbabwe’s increasing oil demand.
Equatorial Guinea has sizeable petroleum reserves which were discovered in 1996 altering the economic and political status of the country. Its gross domestic product per capita ranks 28th in the world.
Equatorial Guinea is the third-largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its oil production in 2004 rose to 360,000 barrels per day (57,000 m3/d), up from 220,000 only two years earlier.
Relations between Equatorial Guinea and Zimbabwe improved when Zimbabwe foiled a coup attempt on President Mbasogo masterminded by British mercenaries. Old Etonian and former SAS man, Simon Mann was one of the plotters.
He was arrested and convicted in Zimbabwe where he spent time at Chikurubi maximum security prison. He also spent time in an Equatorial Guinea jail before being pardoned by the president.
Zimbabwe is also exploring oil deals with newly independent South Sudan. President Mugabe and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir have had telephone conversations and sent letters via special envoys.
Our source says an oil deal is currently being inked.
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