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COP28: Onward March to Just and Sustainable Energy Transition Plan

Following his participation in this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP 28), in Dubai, the African Refiners and Distributors Association Executive Secretary, Anibor Kragha, says ARDA remains aligned with the key outcomes of COP 28 related to a just, equitable, tailored energy transition process that considers the peculiar energy poverty and development requirements of African countries.

An assessment of the gold-for-oil program: a position paper

The Gold for Oil (G4O) program emerged in response to the 1973 oil crisis, triggered by an oil embargo imposed by OPEC members, particularly Saudi Arabia, on nations perceived as supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War (Birjandi, 2003). This crisis caused a global energy shortage and a surge in oil prices, prompting negotiations between oil-producing and importing countries to exchange oil for gold instead of conventional fiat currencies, allowing oil exporters to accumulate gold reserves (Falola & Genova, 2005).

Guyana: the new oil centre of the world

On the northeastern tip of South America, there are three little countries stacked in a row; anomalies of empire whose imperial histories still have resonance today. Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. One formerly of the British Empire; one formerly of the Dutch Empire; one still an overseas department of France and all speaking the language that their colonial masters left them. Of these, Guyana, formerly British Guyana and the only English-speaking country in South America, has been in the news lately following a referendum in Venezuela where President Maduro invited Venezuelans to decide if a large chunk of Guyana should, in fact, be Venezuelan. Given the vast oil riches off the coast of Guyana, the referendum unsurprisingly passed. Once the sabre-rattling verbal aggression died down, there was agreement that no one wanted to go to war and that the foreign ministers of each country would negotiate a solution over the next three months.