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The start of arrears payments by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has brought some respite to independent power producers’ balance sheets. Although Ghana’s economic recovery still hinges on the conclusion of an IMF programme and wider debt restructuring, private investors have been able to win better terms for their power projects – which is important, as more capacity will be needed to meet rising demand.

Shortfalls in financial flows, failures to deal with debt and a lack of voice in global decision-making arenas are longstanding issues that African leaders are now seeking to address, with leaders from Ghana, Kenya and Zambia setting out a blueprint for reform covering everything from UN Security Council seats to the reallocation of $100bn-worth of assets held by the IMF. The extent to which these ambitious goals can be achieved could prove critical to Africa’s ability to finance and structure the energy transition on its terms – but the continent’s governments also need to accelerate their own reforms.

Renewed momentum for nuclear energy was underlined by a COP28 climate summit pledge to triple global capacity by 2050 – although huge capital costs pose daunting obstacles to the several African countries who are looking at potential atomic power developments. A new generation of small reactors, while not yet commercially viable, may offer a solution for some to add significant capacity, writes Marc Howard.

London AIM- and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Atlantic Lithium has been granted two new prospecting licences near its existing Ewoyaa acreage, where it is developing a spodumene pegmatite mine and ore processing plant.

Tullow has agreed a $400m, five-year debt facility with commodities trader Glencore Energy, giving the UK indie a financial boost. The two sides have also agreed two oil marketing and offtake contracts, which will run concurrently with the debt agreement.

While Ghana remains hamstrung by enormous debts, there are tentative signs the economy may be turning a corner as Ghanaian politicians limber up for an election year. As debt restructuring deals continue to be hammered out with independent power producers and other creditors, there are grounds for cautious optimism, even if deep structural issues have yet to be addressed, writes Marc Howard.

The launch of Tullow Oil and Kosmos Energy’s Jubilee South East (JSE) project has given Ghana’s upstream sector a welcome boost, after overall oil production declined in H1 2023.  President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo described the $1bn scheme as “a moment of joy to us all”, at the JSE project’s official launch on 8 September.

A central element in Ghana’s debt restructuring is the money owed to domestic independent power producers (IPPs). Industry group the Independent Power Generators, Ghana (IPGG) has been working to hammer out the details of a deal to resolve the IPPs’ crisis over lack of payments by state entities and the haircut on their outstandings demanded by the government following an interim agreement in June.

Ghana’s improving economic indicators have provided some much-needed relief for the embattled New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, which is now at the tail-end of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s constitutionally allowed two terms.

Once fully commissioned, the nameplate 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery complex is expected to transform the downstream sector in West Africa, but other major refinery projects are also under way in Angola and Ghana, writes James Gavin.

Nasdaq-listed Piedmont Lithium has exercised its option to take a 22.5% interest in Atlantic Lithium's Ghanaian lithium projects, including its Ewoyaa spodumene mine in Mfantseman.

Most big oil companies reported a sharp falls in profits in Q2 2023, but Africa still figures prominently in results and future plans – and where it doesn’t majors are able to divest at least some of their more attractive assets.

Nigeria’s Starsight Energy and South Africa’s SolarAfrica said on 1 August they had completed their merger deal, first announced in September 2022. The deal creates one of Africa’s largest renewable energy-focused commercial and industrial players.

Aqua Power’s small-scale liquefied natural gas project will supply AngloGold Ashanti’s Iduapriem mine in Tarkwa, Ghana, as a major miner offtakes gas via a ‘virtual pipeline’ – a solution for providing C&I baseload with considerable potential for growth across sub-Saharan Africa.

Ghanian independent Springfield E&P has secured a loan from Cairo-based multilateral the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to fund developments in the deep-water West Cape Three Points Block 2 (WCTP 2). The securing of development finance comes as a long-running dispute with Italian major Eni continues in the courts.