JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s biggest union of mineworkers plans to launch a strike in coal mines in the “coming weeks” over the structure of industry wage talks, its spokesman, Livhuwani Mammburu, said on Wednesday.

The National Union of Mineworkers is opposed to the coal companies’ intention to negotiate wages on an individual basis, rather than collectively under the Chamber of Mines, an employer industry body.

(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s state utility Eskom said on Wednesday that 27 companies, including France’s EDF and China’s State Nuclear Power Technology, have shown preliminary interest in the country’s plans to build more nuclear reactors.

The government has not yet said when the official tender for the project will take place, but Eskom in an initial step requested in December that interested companies come forward and say they would be willing to provide information on nuclear power costs and financing options.

South Africa, which has Africa’s only nuclear power station, has earmarked nuclear expansion as the centrepiece of a plan to increase power generation to ease the country’s reliance on an ageing fleet of coal-fired plants and has asked Eskom to procure an additional 9,600 megawatts (MW) of capacity.

Eskom said in December that the information provided by interested companies would be used to finalise its submission to the government on the matter and ensure transparency.

The companies that expressed interest also include Russia’s Rosatom and South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), Eskom said in a statement.

“Eskom is looking forward to the information supplied to confirm our understanding of the key issues that impact the timing and affordability of a nuclear programme,” Eskom’s interim Group Chief Executive Matshela Koko said in the statement.

Critics of the plan have raised questions about environmental risks and costs.

Companies have until April 28 to provide their information.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria has asked Goldman Sachs and the local unit of South Africa’s Standard Bank to advise it on the sale of a debut “diaspora bond” targeted at Nigerians living abroad, Stanbic IBTC Bank said on Monday.

Such bonds are a form of government debt that targets members of the national community abroad and Africa’s biggest economy first announced plans to sell them in 2013 to raise between $100 million to $300 million.

Goldman Sachs and Stanbic were due to manage the sale at the time, but the government then did not appoint any bookrunners before an election in 2015 that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power.

Nigeria is in its first recession in 25 years and needs to find money to make up for shortfalls in its budget. Low prices for crude and militant attacks in its oil-producing heartland, the Niger Delta, have slashed its revenues.

A finance ministry source told Reuters this month that the country will look to issue a diaspora bond after completing a $1 billion eurobond sale.

(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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By Asma Alsharif

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt may issue bonds in other international currencies after successfully selling $4 billion of Eurobonds last week, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said on Sunday.

He told a news conference that potential issuing currencies included the Japanese yen and China’s yuan but that it was too early to say when or how much Egypt might seek to borrow.

Egypt sold $4 billion of Eurobonds in three tranches on Tuesday, raising twice as much as targeted and at lower yields than initially expected.

The combined order books for the five-, 10- and 30-year bonds exceeded $13.5 billion, which bankers said should mean demand is there for further bond sales.

“If (Egypt) decides in 2017 to issue more external debt it will be able to do so because (Tuesday’s) issuance was covered 3.5 times,” said one banker, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to media.

“That on its own shows there is a lot of appetite.

“The appetite is mainly driven by the economic reforms happening in Egypt combined with the lack of investment opportunities abroad that have similarly high yields,” he added.

Another banker said bigger-than-expected demand for the 30-year bonds had been a surprise and showed confidence is growing in Egypt’s long term stability.

Six years after a popular uprising drove away tourists and investors, both major sources of foreign currency, the country of over 90 million people is struggling with an acute shortage of dollars. To meet its financing needs, it has sought funding from a variety of sources, from development loans to foreign grants and aid.

Tough economic reforms, including floating its currency, which roughly halved the value of the Egyptian pound overnight, and a three-year, $12 billion International Monetary Fund programme have helped reassure foreign investors.

Economists say Egypt faces debt repayments of about $11 billion next year.

Allen Sandeep, head of research at Naeem Brokerage, said Egypt’s external debt to GDP ratio of 18 percent – much lower than major emerging market countries like India or Russia – meant it had scope to raise more funding internationally.

“If we look at a comfortable level of 25 percent of GDP, that would give Egypt room to borrow at least $20-25 billion more through international bonds,” although it was likely to have to pay more to borrow than at last week’s sale, he said.

(Editing by Catherine Evans)

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** Algerian state energy company Sonatrach said on Sunday it has set its Saharan Blend official selling price (OSP) for February 2017 loadings at dated Brent flat.

** Algeria has set its January OSP at a 26 U.S. cents premium to the benchmark.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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LAGOS (Reuters) – General Electric Co has proposed investing in Nigeria’s oil refineries, potentially convening a consortium of companies to improve capacity at the run-down facilities.

GE’s plan and similar promises from companies like Italy’s Eni to work with Nigeria to rehabilitate the country’s three oil refineries could help the government as it tries to reduce costly imported oil products.

The work was raised during a meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a GE spokeswoman said late on Tuesday.

“We propose that work commences either with the Warri or Port Harcourt refinery as a pilot, as we set a target to improve the refinery capacity before the end of 2017,” GE told the NNPC, according to a statement from the state oil firm.

Imports are consuming a large portion of the nation’s scarce foreign currency, but the run-down state of the refineries themselves, which are also subject to frequent pipeline attacks, has hampered progress.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu has said that Chevron and Total were also interested in working on the refineries.

GE and NNPC could also cooperate on national power projects, said the Nigerian firm, as the country remains plagued by cuts and shortages and a creaking power grid.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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