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The World Bank brought together nine countries, ten oil companies and six development institutions in Washington on 17 April to commit to ending routine gas flaring at oil production sites by 2030 at the latest. Participants in the Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative will publicly report their flaring and progress towards the target on an annual basis, and will ban the burning off of gas at new oil field developments. Governments have committed to provide an operating environment conducive to investments and to the development of functioning energy markets.

Mauritania’s early August coup was widely seen as a setback for democracy in Africa and a reminder of the difficulty of developing robust state structures in fragile nations that are prone to economic disappointments, unresolved social cleavages and grasping elite power-brokers.

Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy has signed a long-awaited agreement to supply Lebanon with 600m m3/yr of natural gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline Project (AGPP).

Winfield Resources has approached the government with a proposal to build, own and operate a 30,000 b/d refinery in Nouakchott. The Vancouver-based petroleum company said the government had invited it to make detailed proposals, and it had engaged Surrey-based KBC Process Technology to provide consulting services and technical support.

Prime minister Jose Maria Neves inaugurated the 22MW expansion of the Palmarejo power plant on 1 March. The project added two 11MW diesel generator sets to the 25MW facility and a high-voltage transmission line connecting Palmarejo and Calheta at a cost of €52m ($67m). Three new substations were also built.

Madagascar Oil has been awarded a development mining title for the Block 3104 Tsimiroro production sharing contract (PSC). This follows approval of the Block 3104 Tsimiroro development plan by the Block 3104 management committee. This is the first PSC to enter into the development phase in Madagascar. The development mining title is valid for 25 years with possible extensions to enable a development period of up to 50 years provided production remains commercial.

The 335MW Dedisa Peaking Power plant at Port Elizabeth announced the start of commercial operations on 2 October. The plant is owned by Engie, South Africa’s Legend Power Solutions, Mitsui & Co, and local community group The Peaker Trust, which owns 10%. With the 670MW Avon peaking power project near Durban, it is South Africa’s first large-scale independent power project originated by the Department of Energy. The power generated by these two open-cycle gas turbine power plants will be sold to Eskom under a 15-year power purchase agreement. Construction of Dedisa by a consortium of Italy’s Ansaldo Energia and Fata Group started in September 2013.

New Era newspaper described black economic empowerment (BEE) entrepreneur Knowledge Katti as “one of the fastest growing [exclusive prospecting licence] EPL millionaires in the country”. Born in 1973 and raised by his grandmother in the Walvis Bay township of Kuisebmond, Katti came to international attention in 2008 when Canada’s Universal Power Corporation (UPC) announced

Mediterranean-focused Energean Oil & Gas has agreed to acquire Italy’s Edison E&P for an initial $750m. Following an initial public offering in March 2018, Energean’s strategy has been to become the leading independent, gas-focused exploration and production company in the Mediterranean, driven by development of the 2.4tcf Karish and Tanin gas fields offshore Israel. In Africa, the deal will give Energean producing assets in Algeria and a new development area in Egypt.

A British geologist working for IMC Geophysics has been shot dead in an ambush in the Ogaden region.

Sharjah-based Dana Gas has announced a gas and condensate find at its El Basant-2 well in the Nile Delta, 1.4km north-east of the El Basant-1 discovery (previously known as El Tawil-1) in the West El Manzala Concession.

Erin Energy Corporation has announced the resignation of chief executive Segum Omidele after less than a year in the post. The company, formerly Camac Energy, gave no explanation for the move. Senior vice-president, general counsel and secretary Jean-Michel Malek will serve as interim chief executive with effect from 22 February, while the board seeks a permanent replacement. Omidele served in various positions with the company from September 2011 and was chief operating officer from September 2015 until his appointment as chief executive in May 2016.

Peter Bosshard left campaign group International Rivers on 22 December and will take up a new position on 1 February as director of the finance programme of the Sunrise Project, leading a new campaign to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy. Under Bosshard’s leadership, International Rivers has campaigned vigorously against large dam projects in Africa. The NGO has been a staunch critic of the Inga scheme in Democratic Republic of Congo, which it argues will not benefit most Congolese, and has gathered evidence of the problems encountered by communities resettled as part of Sudan’s Merowe dam project.

Scatec Solar and Stanlib Private Equity Infrastructure Fund I have increased their shareholdings in the 75MW Kalkbult, 36.8MW Linde and 75MW Dreunberg solar projects. The pair acquired Norfund’s 21% stake in Kalkbult and KLP Norfund’s 16% stake in Linde and Dreunberg.

LIBYA: Agoco finds oil; MOROCCO: Dana rig for Bouanane drilling; MOZAMBIQUE: Rovuma farm-out; NIGERIA: Chevron launches biggest deep-water field; NIGERIA: CNOOC quits block; TUNISIA: Petrofac starts Chergui production; TUNISIA: PA Resources farm-in