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Agro-industry firm SIAT Gabon signed a power purchase agreement with state utility Société d’Energie et d’Eau du Gabon (Seeg) on 7 August to sell its surplus power to the grid. SIAT Gabon produces electricity from palm oil production residues. Local media reports said the supply from SIAT would meet nearly 20% of demand from the city of Lambaréné in the Moyen Ogooué region, where SIAT has a large palm oil plantation. “This agreement testifies to Seeg’s desire to provide new sources of clean energy in collaboration with companies committed to the sustainable industrial development of Gabon,” Seeg director-general Jean-Paul Camus said at the signing ceremony.

Relations between Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo have deteriorated following the tit-for-tat expulsion of Angolan and Congolese nationals who have, until recent crackdowns, generally been allowed to live in border regions. President José Eduardo dos Santos failed to attend the Southern African Development Community’s Kinshasa summit

AGR Well Services is marking its 40th well in Africa, with the late October spudding of a well on offshore Block 2 for US independent Hunt Oil. Hunt signed a new exploration permit for the 1095km2 block in 2013 alongside previous operator Archean Benin Energy, a subsidiary of Century International Oil & Gas Corporation, and Société Beninoise des Hydrocarbures. The permit has an initial period of three years, renewable for one year. The drilling contract, awarded to AGR in July, is for one firm well, plus one future option well.

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m to the Ogoni people to settle a long-running court case brought in the United States under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

Although the development of deep water and gas has not been forthcoming in recent years due to the continued hold-up of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and its proposed new fiscal regime, two majors have announced big investments, with Total planning the development of the offshore Egina field at a cost of some $15bn, and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) taking final investment decisions on the Trans Niger Pipeline Loop-line (TNPL) and the Gbaran-Ubie Phase Two project at a combined cost of $3.9bn.

The government has published a detailed oilfield development programme which shows how it intends to deploy the LD12bn-worth of investment it announced in September to increase output from 1.7m b/d to more than 2.3m b/d by 2013 (AE 170/3).

Symbion Power Lake Kivu Ltd on 8 December signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with state utility Rwanda Energy Group for a 50MW methane gas-to-power project on Lake Kivu. A detailed feasibility study and front-end engineering design have been completed for the project, which will now proceed to detailed design, procurement and permiting.The agreement comes as the KivuWatt project, developed by the US’ ContourGlobal, has begun tests for commissioning of its first 25MW after being connected to the grid.

The Zimbabwean State Procurement board has announced the winners of three contracts to build 100MW solar photovoltaic power plants in the country. Local company Intratrek Zimbabwe and its engineering, procurement and construction partner China’s Chint Electric are set to develop a plant near Gwanda. The other winners are China’s ZTE Corporation, which will develop a plant near Insukamini, and Number 17 Metallurgical China, with a plant near Munyati. The projects are believed to be worth $160m-200m each. Construction is expected to take about 18 months to complete.

Tullow Oil on 18 August announced first oil at its $4bn TEN project, which will produce oil and gas from the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme fields to the west of the Jubilee field. Tullow said TEN will increase overall net production by 60%, significantly improving the company’s ability to manage its debt. Income from production at the Jubilee field has been hit by a number of factors including technical problems with the floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), which led to an extended shutdown in April, and the lower oil price.

Florida-based emergency energy provider APR Energy has announced the start of commercial operation at its 70MW/11kV Francistown temporary power project (AE 178/2).

New energy minister Ben Martins has taken up the portfolio vacated by Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, who has swapped to take up his post as transport minister in President Jacob Zuma’s government. As has been the case for several recent ministers, Martins does not have a background in energy issues. An African National Congress (ANC) member, he is a qualified lawyer and also an artist, writer and poet, whose posts include deputy chair of the Robben Island Museum Council

President Filipe Nyusi has been working to raise Mozambique’s attractiveness to investors during a period when growth rates have dipped, and currency and political risks have risen. Promising signs have included a welcome easing of visa procedures and a more sympathetic ear given to major investors. The macroeconomic picture is improving: growth, which halved from its strong performance of recent years to 3.5% in 2016, will rise to 4.5% in 2017, with further improvement after that, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) chairman and chief executive Mateus Magala told the Africa Energy Forum (AEF) in Copenhagen.

ANADARKO: Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone setbacks; NIGERIA: Providence completes Aje sale to Jacka

Tullow Kenya has given Wood and WorleyParsons front-end engineering design (FEED) contracts for the initial phase of the Lokichar to Lamu crude oil pipeline project. Wood will provide the first phase of FEED services for the pipeline, setting the technical requirements and estimating the installed cost, while WorleyParsons will carry out FEED for the central processing facility. The government invited engineering design bids in January for the $2bn pipeline project.

Tullow Oil said on 19 November it agreed to issue 224,955 ordinary shares to Petrolin Trading Limited to settle a $5m debt of its subsidiary, Tullow Gabon Limited. Tullow Gabon had agreed to pay Petrolin the amount in exchange for the termination of agreements giving Petrolin the right to market part of Tullow’s West Africa crude oil production.