Star 2023-10-24

ELECTRICITY Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has remained cautiously optimistic about the green shoots in resolving the energy crisis, but partial load losses still remained very high. Ramokgopa yesterday said the country was beginning to turn the corner in dealing with the crippling power cuts after suspending load shedding the entire weekend due to improved performance of Eskom’s generating fleet. Eskom is also planning to implement only stage 1 load shedding during the week between 4pm and 5am as breakdowns were at 13 559MW, and 4 765MW capacity was on planned maintenance on Sunday, while evening peak demand was forecast at 25 054MW. “We have turned the corner, although we are not out of the woods yet,” Ramokgopa said. “We are beginning to show sustained improved performance…

TEXTAINER Group Holdings, the Bermuda-based global lessor of containers with a secondary listing on the JSE, is going private through a $2.1 billion (R40bn) buyout by investment firm Stonepeak that will pay shareholders 46% more than the share price on Friday. Textainer’s share price shot up 40% yesterday morning after the group said shareholders would receive $50 per share in cash. The share price traded at R926.90 on the JSE yesterday morning as shareholders closed the discount from the offer price. Stonepeak specialises in infrastructure and real assets. In its transport and logistics sector investments, the company invests “in support of businesses moving toward and benefiting from global thematic trends favouring more efficient and sustainable supply chains”. Textainer will delist and become a privately held company once the…

CHEVRON is acquiring oil driller Hess in a $53 billion (R1 trillion) all-stock deal an- nounced yesterday. It’s the second major industry merger this month – last week ExxonMobil announced it would acquire shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources for $60bn. The deals signal that energy companies are betting on fossil fuels for the long haul even as policymakers are pressing the transition to cleaner energy options in the face of climate change. The consolidation also comes as the major energy players are flush with cash following the run-up in crude prices in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Febru- ary 2022. Oil prices have spiked more than 40% after the unprovoked attack, then mod- erated toward the end of 2022. But they have been trending upward more…

NIGERIA yesterday hailed a landmark victory after it won its bid to overturn an $11 billion (R209bn) damages bill for a collapsed gas project, in a case a judge at London’s High Court said exemplified the ravages of greed and corruption. Nigeria had previously been ordered to pay the sum – representing a third of its foreign exchange reserves – to Process & Industrial Developments, a company based in the British Virgin Islands. But Judge Robin Knowles found that P&ID had paid bribes to a Nigerian oil ministry official in connection with the gas contract signed in 2010, and had failed to disclose this when it later took Nigeria to arbitration over the collapse of the deal. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu described the judgment as a blow against economic malpractice…

Markets rattled as one of country’s three deputy governors tenders resignation to president Political interference over the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) monetary policy stance is thought to be the reason for the shocking resignation of the bank’s deputy governor, Kuben Naidoo, just a month away from the final meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for the year. News broke yesterday that Naidoo had tendered his resignation from the SARB to President Cyril Ramaphosa, just less than 18 months before the end of his second five-year contract. Naidoo is one of three deputy governors of the SARB and a member of the crucial five-member MPC, which oversees the interest rates in the country. The MPC has been split 3-2 over the past two recent meetings about the interest rates…

DIVERSIFIED miner South32 said yesterday that despite macroeconomic conditions creating headwinds for many commodities, its 2024 financial year production guidance remained unchanged across all operations. In its quarterly report released yesterday, South32 CEO Graham Kerr said: “We have maintained annual production guidance for all of our operations with a strong start to the year at our manganese operations, a 34% increase in production at Brazil Alumina and continued growth in low-carbon aluminium volumes.” The group reported that the Manganese ore production increased by 4%, with a quarterly record for South African manganese and a strong start to the year for Australian manganese. “Alumina production increased by 3%, as Brazil Alumina recovered from temporary port infrastructure outages, while Worsley Alumina completed planned calciner maintenance. “Hillside Aluminium continued to test its maximum…