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The Niamey administration has pledged backing for the Salkadamna coal development, which would include an open-pit mine and 600MW coal-fired plant, as it tackles electricity shortages. Niger is also now due to receive a donated 40MW power plant from northern neighbour Algeria, in a wave of recent bilateral deals, but it has expelled three Chinese oil officials.

Reports that Brigadier General Abdourahamane Tchiani’s Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie (CNSP) junta has expelled Chinese oil officials have added a potential complication to Niger’s deep economic relationship with China.

Despite some improvements, diplomatic relations between Niger and Benin remain fraught. Cotonou has recalled its ambassador after deeming his public apologies for last year’s Niger-Benin Export Pipeline dispute had gone too far. Meanwhile, ties between Niger and Algeria continue to warm, signalled by fresh momentum for the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project and Algiers’ backing for a new refinery in Dosso.

A seventh loading of oil from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline (NBEP) since exports resumed in August points to a slight thaw in tensions between Cotonou and Niamey, which have resumed a more normal pattern of diplomatic relations even though the border remains closed, writes Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou with Marc Howard.

London AIM-listed Savannah Energy is aiming to complete construction work on the Uquo central processing facility project in Nigeria by year-end. Commissioning is to follow in Q1 2025 around the same time as it is due to secure full control of the Stubb Creek field. The positive developments in Nigeria are in contrast to the ongoing legal cases it is pursuing in Chad and Cameroon and a complex situation in South Sudan – but these issues could all be resolved by mid-2025.

A commissioning ceremony has taken place for the Nigelec Mohammed VI thermal plant, gifted to Niger by the Moroccan king.

‘Accelerated commissioning’ has allowed Golar LNG to announce a definitive 2025 commissioning date at the BP/Kosmos’ Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas project. But the floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) developer has cautioned that it expects more delays at its Nigeria project.

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 deal has ended a three-month suspension of oil shipments from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, enabling the resumption of significant Nigerien production – and vital foreign exchange earnings for Niamey. Meanwhile, the Nigerien junta has appointed a new oil minister with intriguing connections and has signed a deal with Algiers to restart work at a northern oil block, writes Marc Howard with Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou.

Reeling from the suspension of exports from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, the military regime in Niamey has sought to relaunch its mothballed NOC as an upstream player. It has also looked at reviving a tie-in to the Chad-Cameroon pipeline – an option previously rejected in favour of the NBEP, and is preparing expressions of interest for a new 100,000 b/d refinery.

The CNSP regime has triumphantly commemorated the anniversary of its ousting of President Bazoum. But the festivities merely distract from a worsening security situation that has seen major oil investor CNPC suspend work in the Agadem Rift Basin, part of a $7bn investment including a pipeline which remains idle over a dispute with Benin. Niger’s woes lay bare the folly of the chauvinistic politics advanced by the Sahel’s juntas, writes Marc Howard.

The failure to expand output at China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)’s Agadem Rift Basin (ARB) acreage and the closure of the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline (NBEP) after it had just opened are bitter blows both for the economic programme of Brigadier General Abdourahamane Tiani’s Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie (CNSP) junta, and for the project sponsors.

The leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are taking steps to create a new regional body to replace their former membership of Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) but it remains unclear how the plan will be organised and financed.

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 the first cargo being lifted from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline (NBEP) sea terminal in May, cross-border relations have continued to sour, after Benin arrested five Nigerien pipeline employees and a second crude loading was aborted, while insurgents have attacked the pipeline in Niger, writes Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou with Marc Howard.