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QatarEnergy has added to its existing oil and gas holdings in two promising areas off the coast of Namibia, where the giant Venus oil discovery was made in February 2022.

Privately-held Impact Oil & Gas has halved its interests in deep-water blocks 2912 and 2913B – the latter containing the giant Venus discovery made in February 2022.

AIM-listed independent Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas is actively looking to farm-out stakes in its Walvis Basin offshore licences, where it hopes to monetise its long-term commitment to oil-prone blocks that it has been developing for 15 years.

Solarcentury Africa’s financial close of the Gerus solar IPP – the Southern African Power Pool’s first pure merchant play in Namibia – will be followed by three more IPPs on the same model across the region. The milestone development points the way to a new mode of power project development provided utilities and regulators can keep up.

Uranium industry figures say African producers should benefit from the growing interest around the world in developing more nuclear power, after a long slump following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Established producers such as Namibia – which could become the world’s second-largest producer in the next decade – Niger and Malawi are eyeing greater output, while others such as Mauritania are preparing to enter the market, writes Marc Howard.

A final investment decision for Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed Bannerman Energy’s Etango uranium mine in Namibia is expected by end-2024. The junior’s chief executive Gavin Chamberlain told African Energy that good progress had been made on the project.

The concessional loan from German development bank KfW has enabled the project to expand from70MWp to 100MWp, with Chinese contractors now taking on the EPC work.

Canada’s Africa Oil Corporation has acquired an option to buy a 7% stake in Impact Oil & Gas from existing shareholders, as it continues its efforts to increase its exposure to the Orange Basin.

A mini-boom in uranium mining is underway in Africa, with investors raising debt and equity finance to advance greenfield projects and mothballed mines being brought back online. The energy transition and geopolitical imperatives have created a more favourable environment for the nuclear power sector, but political risks are especially acute when it comes to uranium, as demonstrated by recent licence withdrawals in Niger, writes Marc Howard.

Despite a period of intense activity in markets such as Namibia and Nigeria, merger and acquisition deals around the continent are taking longer to get over the line, reflecting the more complex structures being adopted and the need to tap less familiar sources of funding, writes James Gavin.

Gemcorp Capital has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Water which could lead to excess power generated in Angola being exported to Namibia and the Southern African Power Pool (Sapp).

NamPower has started the execution phase of its pioneering Otjikoto project, which will use an invasive shrub as fuel in Namibia’s largest biomass plant and could set a precedent for greater use of the renewable technology.

The World Bank has approved its first energy project loan for Namibia, to be deployed to finance grid expansion and support increased integration of renewable energy into an electricity system that still serves only about half of the population and is heavily dependent on imports.

National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) has signed an agreement with  Chevron for the offshore PEL 82 licence area. Namibia is hoping the deal could encourage more majors to come into the Walvis Basin, in the hope of replicating the Orange Basin’s exploration success further south.

BP/Eni joint venture Azule Energy – which until now has focused entirely on Angola – has taken a 42.5% stake in an offshore block in Nambia’s Orange Basin, close to the giant Graff and Venus discoveries. The farm-in deal includes an option for Azule to become operator in the future.