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The government’s latest Integrated Resource Plan, issued in early January, provided further details of South Africa’s plans for 7.2GW of new gas-to-power capacity to replace ageing coal-fired units. LNG is central to making that happen and a contract to develop an import terminal in Richards Bay has been awarded to the Netherlands’ Vopak.

Turkey’s Aksa Energy has started installation work at the 255MW Saint Louis combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, in the coastal city of Saint Louis, 320km north of Dakar. African Energy spoke to Aksa to get the details of the project, which was awarded directly to local developer Ndar Energies in February 2023.

Félix Tshisekedi has won a second presidential term and his coalition a big parliamentary majority in Democratic Republic of Congo. But victory comes in the face of complaints from his opponents, unease among allies and a toxic blend of rebellions, insolvency and social discontent.

International oil companies in Gabon have adopted a ‘business as usual’ approach since General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema’s coup last August, as expressed by Vaalco Energy’s chief executive George Maxwell in an interview with African Energy. But the government’s decision to step in and use the state-owned Gabon Oil Company to acquire Assala Energy – thus sidelining French independent Maurel & Prom which had planned to buy the business – points to a more activist approach from the recently-installed authorities in Libreville.

With momentum building for the delayed Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project to start exports in mid-2024, supermajor BP has extended its relationship with services provider Petrofac.

US independent Vaalco Energy is aiming to double oil production to over 50,000 b/d within three years, with its African operations playing a significant role in the uplift alongside a continuing M&A strategy, chief executive George Maxwell told African Energy.

LSE-listed Aterian is taking a controlling stake in Atlantis Metals, which holds exploration licences in Botswana’s highly prospective Kalahari Copperbelt and Makgadikgadi regions.

Disbursement of the first tranche of Afreximbank’s $3.3bn crude-for-finance deal will help to ease Abuja’s immediate financial difficulties, as the Tinubu administration needs all the help it can get to alleviate a cost of living crisis that threatens to alienate the president’s support base and derail essential reforms.

Lotus’ plan to resume uranium mining at the Kayelekera resource reflects surging spot prices and would provide a much-needed source of income and employment for Malawi, but the restart depends on new power deals with utility state Escom, as well as new finance and offtake agreements.

Efforts to upgrade regional power pools are critical if the CMP is to achieve its vision of a fully interconnected African power grid, as discussed in the latest African Energy view. Among signs of progress, the launch of a southern African Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Fund is expected soon, the West Africa Power Pool is testing a day-ahead market and the Eastern Africa Power Pool aims for its market to go live by mid-2024.

The African School of Regulation (ASR) is expected to soon appoint a permanent director to succeed interim director Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, who was appointed in July 2022. Officially launched in September 2023, with its headquarters at the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in Accra, ASR has in fact been running seminars and conferences with regulators across the continent for more than 12 months.

African electricity markets are on the threshold of genuine reform in 2024, even if policy-makers’ grandest ambitions are destined to meet with disappointment. African Energy has examined the first data that has emerged from the third development phase of the African Union’s Continental Master Plan and found much to applaud.

Nairobi-headquartered industrial company Abyssinia Iron and Steel has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Norway’s Empower for a solar PV plant at Abyssinia’s Awasi factory.

Actis, a prominent UK-owned backer of African power projects, has been acquired by US equity investor General Atlantic for an undisclosed amount. The electricity industry will be looking to see how Africa fits into Actis’ plans as it comes under new management.

London AIM-listed Chariot and the local H1 Holdings have bought out their erstwhile partner Neura Group to take full ownership of South African electricity trading company Etana Energy, at a price of up to $5.2m.