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Egypt is continuing to work on its plan to sell natural gas to Lebanon, but has tacitly acknowledged any deal to help out cash-strapped Beirut will not maximise revenue from its resources. Nevertheless, the proposal is not just an expression of regional altruism and Arab solidarity. It is also intended to further Egypt’s long-term geopolitical and economic interests.

The Egypt-Lebanon gas deal shows Cairo’s determination to reinforce its indispensable role as regional leader, but the highly publicised arrangement also highlights some of the contradictions in Cairo’s commercial gas strategy, write James Gavin and John Hamilton

Progress on renewables projects, and new regulatory and market initiatives, may calm fears the government is slowing the pace of wind and solar schemes that have become ‘too competitive’, writes John Hamilton

Amea Power’s memorandum of understanding with a strategic group of Egyptian state entities places the UAE-based power developer among a small but growing number of investors contributing to building a green hydrogen hub at the southern entrance of the Suez Canal

Not all headwinds are fair for Egypt’s ambitious plans for regional energy leadership. The achievement of some of the lowest wind and solar generation tariffs anywhere in Africa has been one of the signal achievements of Egypt’s renewable energy strategy to date, but rates will now go back up given supply bottlenecks with China and other issues.

BP Egypt has announced a second gas discovery in the North Damietta Offshore concession in the East Nile Delta. BP said on 9 March the Atoll-1 deep-water exploration well, drilled by the semi-submersible rig Maersk Discoverer, had reached 6,400 metres depth and penetrated 50 metres of gas pay in high-quality Oligocene sandstones. Expected to be the deepest well ever drilled in Egypt, the Atoll well still has another 1km to drill to test the same reservoir section found to be gas bearing in the 2013 Salamat discovery, 15km to the south.

Dana Gas on 20 May began drilling the Merak-1 exploration well targeting up to 4tcf of gas in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin. The well is being drilled by Advantage Drilling Services’ Tungsten Explorer drillship in 755 metres of water in the North El Arish concession (Block 6). Chief executive Patrick Allman-Ward told the Africa E&P Summit in London on 23 May the company had identified at least three multi-tcf prospects in the deep-water part of the block, which borders Israeli waters.

The Libyan and Turkish governments have defended their latest memorandum of understanding (MoU) on hydrocarbons exploitation in maritime areas that they claim, but several neighbours dispute. The result is a bad-tempered stand-off, even before details have been announced, let alone exploration areas named or awarded.

German development bank KfW is providing up to €200m ($237m) in concessional financing for green hydrogen projects in South Africa. A request for information from interested companies and consortia was issued by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Meridian Economics on 2 July, on behalf of KfW.

Thanks to a combination of high solar radiation and superlative wind resources, the massive, largely desert zone along north-west Africa’s Atlantic coast has become a focus for huge projects in what is starting to look like a new scramble for Africa. Recent developments include Chariot and Total Eren positioning themselves to take advantage of the emerging business opportunity in the production of green hydrogen in Morocco and Mauritania. This follows close on the footsteps of CWP Global and Xlinks. Others such as Harmattan Energy are looking at the disputed Western Sahara (under a UN mandate). As the number of prospective schemes grows, so too will the pressure to secure land rights and authorisations – a familiar issue for businesses with long track records in securing upstream and mineral rights across the continent.

Sasol and the Northern Cape’s development body are expected to complete prefeasibility work on a 5GW green hydrogen plant in September, with a full feasibility study to begin soon afterwards.

The South African government appears to have finally lost patience with Eskom. Minister of public enterprises Lynne Brown made clear at a meeting of the Eskom board on 11 May that it must take decisive action. The following day Eskom chairman Zola Tsotsi announced a three-month inquiry into the utility’s problems and the suspension of chief executive Tshediso Matona, finance director Tsholofelo Molefe, head of group capital Dan Marokane and head of the commercial and technology division Matshela Koko. The announcement appears to have followed an intervention by the so-called ‘war room’, led by Brown and deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Higher collection rates and cost increases for consumers are creating the fiscal space for Nigeria’s government to revive plans for a string of solar PV projects and direct trading between generation and distribution companies, writes Marc Howard.

National Water and Electricity Company (Nawec) said construction started at the 23MWp Jambur solar PV plant on 4 February. China’s TBEA Sunoasis is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor.

A Nigerian court has ordered the seizure of $40m worth of jewellery and a customised gold iPhone belonging to former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on 5 July. A list of items published by the court included 419 bangles, 315 rings and 189 wristwatches.