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CFM’s appointment to manage the Southern African Power Pool ’s $1.3bn Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility could free up a decades-long blockage in the development of cross-border transmission infrastructure. How quickly this happens depends on the success of fundraising efforts in the coming months, and the willingness of utilities and finance ministries to make the RTIFF scheme work.

Rivalry between the world’s two most powerful nations is driving a rush to build strategic export-focused railway infrastructure in Africa on a scale not seen since the height of the Cold War. Washington’s $500m commitment to the minerals export-focused Lobito Corridor has been countered by a $1bn Chinese proposal to rehabilitate the creaking Tazara line. The two megaprojects will have terminals close together in the Copperbelt, but geopolitical considerations are likely to prevent any interconnection, writes Marc Howard.

The United Arab Emirates has stepped in to finance Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s long-desired oil refinery, as the UAE ramps up its sub-Saharan business activity. Junior foreign minister Sheikh Shakhbut Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan has been making yet more visits around the continent, also taking in Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola’s Cabinda enclave in January.

Independents Afentra and Serinus emerged as the main overseas winners from Angola’s latest 12-block licensing round, after being named as preferred bidders for onshore blocks in the Lower Congo and Kwanza basins.

The final COP28 communiqué included – for the first time – a commitment to eventually phase out fossil fuels, going beyond previous declarations that focused on coal. However, there are few signs that Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members and their Opec+ allies, led by Russia, have any intention of allowing their core source of revenues to disappear anytime soon. So what can we learn from recent statements by oil producers – including Opec+’s quota commitments at a meeting on 30 November – and from leaks and comments made during COP28?

UK independent Afentra said on 8 December it had completed the acquisition of a 14% interest in Block 3/05 and a 40% interest in Block 23 from national oil company Sonangol.

UAE-based players have used COP28 to commit – and recommit – to projects that could supply over 12GW of renewables capacity across Africa. Emiratis argue this displays a willingness to push projects forward and shoulder risk, while others have failed to deliver – and if critics complain they are also prominent in the oil lobby, Abu Dhabi can counter that the UAE has assumed a leading role in enabling Africa’s energy transition.

Angola's President João Lourenço travelled to Washington on 30 November to meet his American counterpart Joe Biden, in a meeting described by the White House as advancing the development of the 1,290km Lobito Corridor rail project.

Local and international oil companies showed promising levels of interest in the unglamorous onshore basins on offer in Angola’s latest licensing round, but challenges remain from declining oil production and a fractious relationship with Opec, writes James Gavin.

Portugal’s MCA Group has started the implementation of its €1.2bn ($1.3bn) rural electrification programme in Bié, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Malange and Moxico provinces. The programme includes the installation of solar PV and battery capacity across 46 mini-grid sites and 12 grid-connected sites.

Afentra has secured official approval for the acquisition of stakes in two offshore blocks from the state-owned oil company Sonangol. The UK independent said it was now working with Sonangol to finalise the formal completion of the deal.

The long-delayed plans to develop a 600MW plant on the Cunene River to supply both Angola and Namibia have been expanded, with a main 860MW dam to be built with a 18MW balancing dam. Solar PV and pumped-storage components may also be added, writes Martin Burdett.

An FPSO vessel under construction at Malaysia’s Yinson Production yard is thought to be the first of its type to be fitted with a post-combustion carbon capture unit. It will be used on the Agogo field in Angola by BP/Eni joint venture Azule Energy .

Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) has been busy shedding assets elsewhere in Africa, but the Malaysian national oil company has expanded its footprint in Angola, via its Petronas Angola E&P subsidiary.

Austria’s Andritz Hydro has announced that the Laúca hydroelectric power (HEP) plant is now operating at full capacity. Considered Angola’s largest HEP plant,  Laúca’s main powerhouse has six units, each designed to produce about 335MW.