COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

QatarEnergy signs deal with TotalEnergiesTotalEnergies will invest around US$1.5 billion in the planned expansion of Qatar's liquefied natural gas capacity, the French energy major said on Saturday, a project that promises to ramp up gas supplies to energy-hungry European markets.The company's chief executive Patrick Pouyanne travelled to Doha to sign a deal with QatarEnergy chief Saad al-Kaabi for the North Field South (NFS) expansion, saying that the deal came at a "perfect time" when world leaders particularly in Europe were seeking new LNG supplies.Qatar's North Field expansion project will boost its position as the world's top LNG exporter and help guarantee long-term supplies of gas to Europe as the continent seeks alternatives to Russian flows.Kaabi said TotalEnergies would have a 9.375% stake out of a 25% stake in NFS dedicated for international partners. QatarEnergy will hold 75% of NFS. He said he could not disclose the total cost of the NFS project as some onshore contracts had not yet been finalised.He added that QatarEnergy was always talking to buyers globally whether in Europe or Asia and would continue to do so for commercial contracts for the expansion project as per market need.Sources told Reuters last week that German utilities RWE and Uniper were close to striking long-term deals to buy LNG from the North Field east expansion to help replace Russian gas.Talks between Germany and Qatar have been fraught with differences over key conditions such as the length of contracts and pricing, but industry sources have said the parties were expected to reach a compromise soon.-ReutersStandard Bank sees gas pipeline as positiveA proposed natural gas pipeline running from Tanzania to Uganda may have a positive environmental impact in a region where the majority of households still cook using charcoal or wood, according to Patrick Mweheire, Standard Bank Group's regional chief executive officer for East Africa."One of the biggest issues in Uganda is that you know, 70% of cooking is still done by charcoal and firewood, so they're cutting trees down," Mweheire said in an interview Friday.The line, if built, would run parallel to the US$4 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) currently under construction. The EACOP, being developed by a group including TotalEnergies SE, will transport crude from Uganda's oil fields to Tanzania's coastline.The oil pipeline is opposed by environmentalists and the gas line may face similar resistance. But Mweheire said the projects would have "huge benefits" for both nations. The gas pipeline, in particular, would help curb deforestation, he said.Uganda intends to proceed with the EACOP, which will transport oil 900 miles (1 448 km) from the shores of Lake Albert on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Tanzania's Tanga port on the Indian Ocean. The European Union has urged the governments to stop work on the pipeline on the grounds that it threatens fragile wildlife habitats.Standard Bank is acting as a financial advisor on the project but has not yet said if it would actually finance it. The project is so contentious that public relations firm Edelman refused to provide public relations and reputational management services on it, News24 Business previously reported. According to people familiar with the matter - this triggered a parting of ways between Edelman and Standard Bank, but neither has confirmed this.-Fin24MultiChoice branches out from entertainmentMultiChoice has acquired its first non-entertainment business, emergency response app Namola, which offers users a platform to rapidly share their location with emergency responders.Once dubbed the 'Uber for police', the app was developed by Craig Rivett and initially piloted in Pretoria in 2015 before going national in 2017. The move by the group to bulk up its value proposition comes amid pressure from a surge in new streaming services, while elevated inflation and rising interest rates have been cutting into the spending power of its market."Namola is part of our strategy to expand our ecosystem beyond entertainment and to offer a suite of consumer services that meet the needs of our customers," Nyiko Shiburi, CEO of MultiChoice SA says.Namola enables users to call the nearest vetted private or public security and medical response unit to their location, and DStv customers can add the Namola subscription to their monthly DStv bill.Namola's addition to the business stable of the JSE-listed pay-TV operator is one of several developments unveiled by the company during its annual showcase on Thursday evening.The company said it was "evolving its offering to deliver value to its customers, beyond video entertainment"."It is about offering an integrated digital ecosystem where customers can access a suite of services that meet their unique needs."-Fin24Denel faces funding gapCash-strapped state defence firm Denel will need around R3 billion to cover a funding gap for a restructuring plan it is aiming to execute over the next 12 to 18 months, company executives told Reuters on Thursday.Once a cornerstone of South Africa's defence industry, Denel, which manufactures weapons and military equipment for South Africa's armed forces and export, has faced liquidity problems in recent years.It struggled to pay salaries during the pandemic and saw its bonds suspended by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange earlier this year after it failed to submit financial results within the required timeframe."Activities literally halted. We couldn't get cash into the business. We just haemorrhaged," new interim CEO Michael Kgobe said on the sidelines of the Africa Aerospace and Defence expo in Pretoria. "Right now it's about unlocking cash."While Denel has previously failed to fully execute a turnaround strategy, Kgobe said a new restructuring plan was on track and benefitted from support from the board of directors.Access to around R1 billion from a surplus fund held by the company's medical benefits trust allowed it to pay salaries, and it is planning sales of non-core assets.Denel expects to raise about R2 billion internally to fund the turnaround plan, which is projected to cost around R5 billion in total.-Fin24Momentum hikes medical scheme rateHigher medical aid premium increases are making a comeback. Momentum Health Medical Scheme, one of the medical aids that deferred new premiums and kept increases significantly lower than usual over the past two years, announced an 8.5% increase from April 2023.But because the higher contributions will only take effect from April, the effective average increase for the full year comes to 6.4%.This is significantly above its 2% effective increase for 2022. This year, it deferred medical scheme contributions up until September. The 2022 increase was 6%, but only for four months.The scheme could afford to keep increases below inflation as hospitalisation and other medical aid claims fell to record lows in 2020. Even though there was an increase in 2021, claims were still way below the pre-pandemic levels. And the scheme still sat with massive reserves built from the 2020 savings.But as life went back to normal this year, so did medical aid claims. Out-of-hospital claims are now well above pre-pandemic levels. Hospitalisations, which usually account for the lion's share of claims, are currently at 94% of 2019 levels in the Momentum Medical Scheme. In 2020, during the hard lockdown, it fell to 36%. In 2021, it hovered above 75% of 2019 levels from April onwards.-Fin24

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