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The 44MW Singrobo-Ahouaty hydroelectric power (HEP) plant reached a €174.3m ($183.4m) financial close in December according to a statement by mandated lead arranger African Development Bank (AfDB).

The issue leads with a series of analytical articles and charts looking at the prospects for a 'just energy transition' across the continent. Power coverage leads with Senegal, where the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Senegal Power Compact is embarking on major transmission network upgrades that the US agency says will improve the grid’s capacity, reliability and stability, as the government implements its planned 1GW expansion of generation capacity. Oil and gas coverage includes a focus on Namibia where reports indicate that TotalEnergies’ Venus discovery could be the world’s largest-ever deep-water discovery.

UK-based firms have announced further moves towards developing gas-prone acreage in Morocco, with potential consequences for gas-fired power supply and liquids sales.

Australia’s Invictus Energy has extended the contract for Exalo’s Rig 202 to allow further drilling in Muzarabani. That leaves Helium One needing another rig for its Tanzania drilling campaign.

French independent power producer (IPP) Voltalia has begun construction of the 148MW Bolobedu solar PV plant in Limpopo province.  

The BRILHO – Energy Africa Mozambique programme, running from 2019 to 2023, has issued a call for expressions of interest for the development of green mini-grids.

Commercial operations of Malawi’s Nkhotakota solar PV plant are due to begin on 22 December, IPP Serengeti Energy announced.

Israel’s NewMed Energy and Moroccan privately-held Adarco Energy have signed a deal with the state Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) to carry out oil and gas exploration in the offshore Boujdour Atlantique licence area, in waters that form part of the disputed Western Sahara.

Questions continue to be asked about security issues in Zimbabwe, in the wake of a recent training exercise by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) in Mashonaland Central province, an area which fans out north of Harare to the borders with Mozambique and Zambia.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is to lend €125m ($131m) to Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) to renovate its power-generating system.  

Paris-based independent Perenco said on 28 November that it had discovered oil at the Tchnemi-01 well in the Tchibeli North East pre-salt Vandji exploration prospect, on the Perenco-operated PNGF Sud licence.

Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas has announced that it has not found evidence of commercial hydrocarbons at its Gazania-1 well on offshore Block 2B. The failure to encounter a commercial play so close to the Venus and Graff discoveries will disappoint South Africans hoping for exploration successes in the Orange Basin.

The Zambian authorities appear to have backed down in a long-running dispute with the country’s major mining companies over electricity tariffs, by agreeing to reverse a 2014 hike in charges. Since coming into power in August 2021, President Hakainde Hichilema has signalled a desire to end the dispute and allow the sector to reassert its role as the main contributor to the economy.

Industry observers report that the flow of contracts coming from Sonatrach contract remains slow, compared with the national oil company’s publicly stated ambitions. However, a number of headline awards have been announced in recent months.

Nigerian independent Green Energy International (Geil) says it could invest up to $750m over the next three years to boost output at the Otakikpo field to 25,000 b/d. Geil is also due to commission a 6MW gas-to-power (GTP) plant and a 12m cf/d modular liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) extraction plant.