First the good news, in what is being billed as the biggest project financing deal ever made in sub-Saharan Africa, the world's leading finance houses have pledged $US1 billion towards a major new gas initiative in Nigeria.

The money will fund part of a $US2 billion project being undertaken by Nigeria LNG, which liquefies natural gas for export to Europe and the US.

Nigeria currently flares - or burns off - a lot of the gas that is associated with oil extraction and the Nigerian government has promised to reduce the amount of gas it flares in order to reduce global warming.

Many commentators see the deal as an important sign that financial institutions are prepared to take the risk of investing in Africa despite the political unrest.

Nigeria LNG is jointly owned by Shell, TotalFinaElf, Agip and state-controlled Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Now the bad news, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has threatened to nationalise privately-held petrol stations owned by foreign oil giants such as BP, Mobil and Caltex.

Mugabe's threats comes as his impoverished nation is spending $US15 million of scarce foreign currency reserves on fuel imported from Kuwait and South Africa, to alleviate a shortage that has brought his nation to a standstill.

Zimbabwe's problems stem from a failure to pay for fuel as export earnings from its once prosperous farm sector have dried up due to Mugabe's land reform policy, which included ousting white farmers and giving the land to landless black farmers.