Paul Burkhardt
Bloomberg
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, GP, South Africa
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Past articles by Paul:
Disaster Plan Draws Skepticism in Energy-Starved South Africa
South Africa is drawing skepticism over its plans to declare a state of disaster to help tackle crippling blackouts, with critics arguing that the measure will undermine spending controls and isn’t the solution to the nation’s energy crisis. → Read More
Eskom’s 2021 Loss Widens to Record $1.5 Billion After Adjustment
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. restated the company’s reported loss for the 2021 financial year to 25.3 billion rand ($1.5 billion), about 38% more than before certain accounting adjustments. → Read More
Richest South African City Seeks Private Power to Cut Blackouts
Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub and its richest city, is seeking electricity supply from private generators to reduce the amount of scheduled power outages. → Read More
South Africa Minister Says Hunger Kills Faster Than Fossil Fuels
South Africa is aware of the dangers of fossil fuels, “but hunger will kill us faster,” its energy minister said. → Read More
South Africa Revamps Power Utility Board to Tackle Energy Crisis
South Africa revamped the board of state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., including naming Mpho Makwana as its new chairman, as the government searches for solutions to end a worsening energy crisis that’s crippling the economy. → Read More
South Africa’s Gordhan Says Record Power Cuts Set to Ease
South African power cuts should ease over coming days and the nation’s electricity supply will continue to improve over the medium term as new investments bolster generation, according to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. → Read More
Why Blackouts Are Still Crippling South Africa
South Africa has been crippled by rolling blackouts since 2008 because its state-run, dilapidated power plants couldn’t keep pace with demand. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the country’s near-monopoly electricity supplier, has been central to the meltdown, with a legacy of poor management and financial losses leading to a series of bailouts. Outages have hit record levels in 2022, and the government… → Read More
Why Blackouts Are Still Crippling South Africa: QuickTake
South Africa has been crippled by rolling blackouts since 2008 because its state-run, dilapidated power plants couldn’t keep pace with demand. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the country’s near-monopoly electricity supplier, has been central to the meltdown, with a legacy of poor management and financial losses leading to a series of bailouts. Outages have hit record levels in 2022, and the government… → Read More
Faced With Government Ineptitude, Cape Town is Going it Alone
The future of our food resources depends on one small insect - the western honey bee, or Apis mellifera. Indeed, it is the most important agricultural pollinator on our planet, given that one third of our food supply depends directly on pollination from bees. This documentary tells the story of a worldwide ecological disaster that has been waiting to happen for several generations. → Read More
Shell Court Case Prompts Climate Protest in Cape Town
Bloomberg Wall Street Week, hosted by David Westin, is a reinvention of the iconic Wall Street Week, which aired on PBS for over 30 years and was hosted by late financial journalist Louis Rukeyser. The one-hour program features market and geopolitical discussions with a rotating panel of influential voices including thought leaders, CEOs, policy makers and economists. → Read More
South African Energy Minister Mantashe Gets Covid a Second Time
South African Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe tested positive for Covid-19 after experiencing mild symptoms, the second time he’s contracted the virus. → Read More
Where a $5 Billion Green Incentive Runs Into Politics of Coal
South Africa’s transition to clean energy finds itself tangled up by nation’s reliance on the black rock. → Read More
Nigeria Races to Extract Its Oil Before It’s Too Late
Nigeria’s vast reserves of oil and gas have generated great riches but are also blamed for fostering conflict, corruption and poverty. Now the country’s leaders want to almost triple its crude production just as a warming world seeks to accelerate a move away from fossil fuels. → Read More
South African Labor Union Slams Eskom Over 1.5% Pay Increase
The biggest labor group at South Africa’s Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. accused the power utility of disregarding rules around wage negotiations by implementing its final offer to workers. → Read More
How an Insurgency Threatens Mozambique’s Gas Bonanza
Total SA and Eni SpA are forging ahead with plans to tap huge natural gas deposits that were discovered off the northern coast of Mozambique a decade ago. Their projects and another being considered by Exxon Mobil Corp. could entail $60 billion in investment and have the potential to turn around the economy of one of the world’s poorest countries. The developments have coincided with a series of… → Read More
South Africa diesel dearth to lift in weeks as refining restarts
More than half of the country's refinery capacity had been shut due to lockdown and unplanned outages. → Read More
South Africa rations diesel after refinery shutdowns curb supply
South Africa has implemented diesel rationing, as demand recovered more quickly than expected after a lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus was eased. → Read More
Central Energy Fund looks to buy Sasol assets to end losses
South Africa’s state-owned Central Energy Fund is considering buying assets that have been put on the block by fuel and chemical maker Sasol as it seeks to restore itself to profitability. → Read More
Sasol mulls adding pipeline, Qatar plant to disposal plan
Sasol is considering additional divestments, including the potential sale of stakes in an African gas pipeline and a Middle Eastern plant, as it explores ways to reduce its $10 billion debt pile, people with knowledge of the matter have said. → Read More
Strategic Fuel Fund maintains challenge to 2015 oil stock sale despite price slump
The fund says it will proceed with a court case to invalidate the sale in 2015 of its strategic oil stocks, despite crude prices recently dropping below what traders paid at the time. → Read More