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The High Court in Accra on 8 June dismissed an application for an interlocutory injunction to prevent the signing of a concession agreement for the operation and management of Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) by China’s BXC Company. The Millennium Development Authority (MDA), which is responsible for implementing the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact in Ghana, announced the decision on the same day. The MDA said “the substantive matter is to take its normal course”.

It all seems like business as usual. Australian Securities Exchange and Alternative Investment Market-listed Range Resources has announced a new financial agreement with its joint venture partner Canada-based Africa Oil Corporation (AOC), for a second exploration well due to be spudded by September. This will be included as part of AOC’s exploration commitments,which oblige it to spend $22.5m in Dharoor and Nugaal before Range reverts to a contributing basis. A Range company report says AOC has satisfied its commitments with regard to Dharoor, but still has around $15m to pay on Nugaal.

Elecnor subsidiary IQA Group has won UK Export Finance (UKEF) support for a contract to upgrade two substations in Viana, east of Luanda, and Gabela, in Kwanza Sul, over two years.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) board on 19 December agreed a $3m loan to Comoros to support energy sector reforms, particularly for electricity and financial governance. The reforms aim to strengthen the governance and performance of the energy sector so that it can support the country’s economic development, and to encourage the state to consolidate and deepen the reform of public finance management.

Recently appointed finance minister Mohammed Benchaâboun is tackling Morocco’s burgeoning budget deficit with reforms that some local observers are calling Thatcherite. The former banker expects to raise funds by divesting the state’s remaining saleable assets, with major privatisations for the first time in a decade.

APR Energy faces a significant challenge in removing its temporary power generation equipment from Libya. The company has ten 25MW gas turbine units located at Al-Furnaj in south-eastern Tripoli, Zlitan and Al-Khums on the coast, and Samnu, north-east of Sabha. It also has a further 200MW of diesel generation units installed in Tripoli and at Um Al-Jadwal, south of Sabha. Most of the territory in which the units are installed is under the control of groups allied to the unrecognised Tripoli-based government.

Despite restarting production on 21 October after securing bank letters of credit to purchase a 600,000 barrel crude consignment from Nigeria, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) continues to operate at well below its 45,000b/d capacity. The refinery has been closed three times since reopening in April 2013, following an eight-month shutdown from mid-2012. TOR public affairs manager Aba Lokko told African Energy the refinery would continue to operate at 28,000 b/d until it received $37.7m from the government, the second tranche of a promised $67.7m finance package to rehabilitate the facility and boost capacity.

On 16 January, the African Development Bank (AfDB) priced a $1bn fixed-rate US dollar global benchmark bond due 15 March 2018. The transaction pays a coupon of 0.875% and a spread of five basis points over mid-swaps, equivalent to 20.45 basis points over the UST 0.75% due 31 December 2017.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has begun investigations into Rolls-Royce’s operations in Nigeria, following accusations that the London Stock Exchange-listed engineering group filtered payments through intermediaries such as Unaoil to win deals in Indonesia, China, India and Brazil. As with previous investigations, the deals under scrutiny were transacted by Rolls-Royce’s previous management, headed by Sir John Rose. The Times newspaper reported on 20 May that the Nigerian deals involved Rolls-Royce’s alleged use of an intermediary company, PSL Engineering and Control, to influence the sale of gas turbines.

The deadline for financial close for projects in the third round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme has been put back to November from July. “Guided by factors such as the volatility of the rand, and in consultation with National Treasury and the Reserve Bank, we have opted to shift the date for financial close to November 2014. This will also allow Eskom to prepare adequately for the connection of these providers to the grid as planned,” energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said while delivering the energy budget to parliament on 21 July.

Total has pulled out of a deal to take over Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’s Ghana assets after the US independent’s new owner Occidental Petroleum Corporation sought to sell its African holdings. The move, announced by Total on 18 May, follows the French major’s announcement that it would not be taking over Anadarko assets in Algeria’s producing Berkine Basin, another of the four deals included under the purchase and sale agreement (PSA) signed in August 2019.

Madagascar Oil has carried out a share placing and open offer through London-based natural resources investment bank GMP Securities Europe to raise £49.5m ($78.4m) at 18p/share. The offering is fully underwritten by existing shareholders.

Adding a further layer of complexity to Eskom’s finances is a ruling by High Court judge Cynthia Pretorius on 16 August in a judicial review of the decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) on 1 March 2016 to let the utility recoup a regulatory clearing account (RCA) balance of R11.2bn ($781m) through a tariff increase of 9.4% for standard customers in 2016-17. The RCA is a mechanism to reduce the risk of Eskom generating either excessive or inadequate returns as a result of unexpected costs or changes in the macroeconomic environment.

The UK’s imminent departure from the European Union (EU) could enable it to negotiate better bilateral trade deals with traditional partners in Africa, according to a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Africa. Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah, who chairs the APPG, told the report launch in London on 28 February that Brexit was an opportunity for the UK to re-evaluate its trading terms with African countries.

The International Energy Agency (IEA)’s World Energy Investment 2016 report, launched in London on 14 September, “shows the electricity sector leading a broad reorientation of energy investment”, as upstream oil and gas investment has slumped. The Paris-based agency’s data show investment in renewable energy accelerating at an impressive rate, although Africa’s performance remains patchy, even in industry leaders like Morocco and South Africa. Despite the global upturn in renewable energy, the IEA warned that “more is needed to meet climate targets and address energy security concerns”.