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The funding provided by the United Arab Emirates for the 3.5MW Bosaso solar plant is the latest element in a long engagement in the area by the Gulf power.

War-torn but entrepreneurial Somalia is edging back towards normality, at last securing membership of the East African Community and reporting some progress in tackling Al-Shabaab militants. The government also has longer-term ambitions to exploit ample renewable energy potential and offshore oil and gas resources, writes Dominic Dudley.

The Cygnum Capital-managed Facility for Energy Inclusion has advanced a $30m loan to Equator Energy to help the Nairobi-headquartered C&I developer grow its business across Africa.

Mogadishu-headquartered Blue Sky Energy’s solar PV/diesel hybrid plant in the Dayniile district has reached a timely new milestone, with demand for power increasingly rapidly in the city. As well as being an IPP, Blue Sky acts as a distribution company and has its own transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure network.  The company’s chief technical officer Abdullahi Abdi took African Energy through its plans.

The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) has awarded a contract for a feasibility study on electricity interconnections between Ethiopia and Somalia. EAPP said the selection of a consultant to undertake a nine-month environmental and social impact assessment (Esia) was also at an advanced stage.

Somalia has been accused of circulating an unofficial maritime map that includes offshore blocks that are claimed by Yemen.

World Bank Group (WBG) affiliate the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga) has issued a $5.67m risk guarantee for the Baidoa solar power plant. Construction of the project has already started.

After a nine-year struggle, including a UK Serious Fraud Office investigation, the backers of Coastline Exploration have secured the chance to open up one of the world’s last unexplored oil frontiers, where above-ground challenges could still be more difficult than the subsea drilling, writes John Hamilton.

One of the most sensitive decisions facing incoming President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed is whether to confirm Coastline Exploration’s rights over a number of highly prospective offshore oil and gas blocks. Some important and influential forces would prefer development to proceed without the Houston-based indie’s involvement, but Coastline’s management is determined to hold on.

UK-based climate fund manager Camco Clean Energy has partnered with Energy Peace Partners (EPP) to manage the Peace Renewable Energy Credit (P-Rec) Aggregation Fund.

In a trading and operations update issued just ahead of its 12 May annual general meeting, London-listed Genel Energy said that, beyond its focus of two decades on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, it was planning work in two African jurisdictions.

The election of a new parliament and president for the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has already been delayed by one year and the government, led by incumbent president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (‘Farmaajo’) recently delayed the deadline once again.

Prospective upstream players including Russian entrepreneur Alexander Dzhaparidze have encountered yet another setback in efforts to secure production-sharing agreements offshore Somalia. Houston-based Coastline Exploration, of which Dzhaparidze is a non-executive director, has taken on the business objectives of UK-registered Soma Oil and Gas, which first applied for the PSAs in 2015. Somalia approaches a financial precipice less than one month before the conclusion of a difficult election cycle, but its most recent attempt to get the oil deals signed has ended despite apparent support from petroleum minister Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed and Somali Petroleum Authority chairman Ibrahim Ali Hussein; the agreement was vetoed by both President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.

The unrecognised Republic of Somaliland has slowly been gathering momentum behind its claim for independence from Somalia, while seeking to attract investors – as underlined by Genel Energy’s plans to drill an exploration well there in 2023. Most participants in a debate in the House of Commons on 18 January argued UK recognition of Somaliland would be appropriate given the autonomous territory’s stability and governance record and federal Somalia’s disarray.

Jersey-registered Genel Energy is planning to drill a well on Block SL10B13 in the unrecognised Republic of Somaliland in 2023, following the signing in December of a farm-out agreement with Taiwan-based CPC Corporation subsidiary Opic Somaliland Corporation. In a trading update on 18 January, Genel chief executive Gill Higgs said the successful farm-out had opened the way to drill an exploration well.