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Many individual elements of a plan to fix Egypt’s energy problems are now coming into focus – including a politically controversial proposal to import gas from Israel. But important details are still missing, not least the commercial terms for imports and how these will relate to the terms under which domestic producers will sell their gas. It is also far from certain that the administration of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has a coherent plan to address fundamental economic concerns, such as the need to abolish subsidies, which are currently being alleviated by massive injections of Gulf finance.

Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd (Tanesco) has cancelled and then reissued three recently announced tenders for large-scale solar, wind and coal as Tanzania continues to bewilder investors. The tenders are part of government efforts to revive the power sector in time for elections in 2020 following a period of stagnation under the administration of President John Magufuli. Bids are now due by 7 December.Tanesco said the tenders had been cancelled due to “unavoidable circumstances”.

Ethiopia released the second iteration of its National Electrification Programme in March, a 216-page document setting out the government’s least-cost approach to reaching universal access to power by 2025. The plan envisages 65% of customers being on-grid and 35% off-grid. Off-grid would then be phased out by 2030, leaving only 4% of the population off-grid, to be replaced by grid extension, which the government expects to be the least-cost option for all households by 2025.

Nigeria’s female ministers have proved themselves a tough and often talented bunch, but new petroleum minister Diezani Allison-Madueke faces a difficult challenge to finalise the Petroleum Industry Bill, which her predecessor, the law’s key architect Rilwanu Lukman,

The Private Infrastructure Development Group Trust’s Green Africa Power investment facility has received a commitment of NOK300m ($48m) from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, bringing total committed funds to £121m ($204m). GAP is a multi-donor initiative that aims to provide long-term subordinated loans and contingent lines of credit to privately owned renewable power generation projects in Africa alongside commercial lenders and equity investors. GAP expects to start deploying funds to projects in Q1 2015, and work is under way to identify and review potential investments.

Statoil and Exxon Mobil announced a gas discovery on 14 October with the Giligiliani-1 exploration well on Block 2. Operator Statoil said the discovery of an additional 1.2tcf of natural gas in place in the well brought total in-place volumes up to approximately 21tcf in the block. The discovery was made in Upper Cretaceous sandstones along the western side of Block 2 at a 2,500-metre water depth. “This discovery has proven the gas play extends into the western part of Block 2, which opens additional prospects.

While minister of mines and hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima is clearly in a hurry to bring more oil and gas resources into production and to raise the profile of his country within the global hydrocarbons industry, he is also holding out for the best deals he can get. Market speculation is focused on a prospective deal for London-based independent Trident Energy – which is led by former Perenco executives and describes itself as an expert in reviving mid-life oil and gas assets – to take over ExxonMobil’s Zafiro oil and gas field, which started production in 1996.

ExxonMobil plans to spud the Mesurado-1 well on Block LB-13 in late 2016 or early 2017, according to the 2016 work programme sent to block partner Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COP). The well, to be drilled in the second exploration phase of the contract, aims to prove a commercial quantity of hydrocarbons in the Cretaceous Santonian age reservoirs, and to provide calibration for the seismic response, which can be used to evaluate other leads on the block.

GHANA: Tullow contracts new rig; NAMIBIA: HRT licence extension; SAO TOME: Oranto completes PSC for EEZ Block 3

The government has announced plans to sell 10% of the shares in the publicly-owned Companhia Moçambicana de Hidrocarbonetos (CMH) to Mozambican individuals and companies.

Australian explorer Far’s Samo-1 well on Block A2 has failed to find commercial hydrocarbons. Far said the well was drilled to 3,240 metres and had oil shows at several levels but the main target horizons were water-bearing. The Australian company had talked up the well’s potential ahead of drilling, describing it as on trend with the SNE field in Senegalese waters to the north.

Rwanda and Uganda are the first East African countries to become members of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which aims to bring together governments and private stakeholders to mobilise funds for infrastructure projects. Rwanda, which signed the AFC’s instrument of accession and acceptance of membership on 4 November, and Uganda, which signed on 6 November, bring the total members to 13. AFC’s other members are Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Circle Oil has announced a light oil discovery with the El Mediouni-1 (EMD-1) exploration well on the Mahdia permit. EMD-1 was drilled in the north-central area of the permit in a water depth of 240 metres, 120km east of Sousse. The well was spudded on 8 June and drilled to a depth of 1,200 metres MD in the Upper Ketatna carbonates. The company said “very good light oil shows” were encountered in the main Lower Birsa carbonate target and the secondary Upper Ketatna carbonates target over a combined interval of 133 metres. Circle estimates recoverable resources at 100m barrels, but hole conditions deteriorated rapidly and Circle was unable to log the well.

Rehabilitation work on the Massingir dam on the Elephants River in Gaza province, some 330km north of Maputo, should begin in Q4, according to project manager Arlindo Vasco Munguambe, who is director of the technical department of the southern regional water administration Administração Regional de Aguas do Sul (ARA-Sul).

South Sudan’s crude production in the first half of July was estimated at 160,000-165,000 b/d, according to industry sources. Sources in Juba have confirmed that Chinese oil workers were evacuated in May from key oilfields in South Sudan’s only producing state, Upper Nile, but any downturn in oil production was shortlived. Current output is slightly higher than the H1 average.On 8 July, Sinopec subsidiary China International United Petroleum & Chemicals (Unipec) won the contract for a cargo of 1m barrels of Dar Blend crude for loading at Port Sudan between 15 and 17 August.