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There is a curious disconnection between Egypt’s dire political and financial straits and the relatively upbeat assessments from the international oil companies (IOCs) developing assets there. In spite of the continued closure of Eni and Union Fenosa’s Damietta LNG export terminal and the substantial debt owed by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to domestic gas producers, long-term prospects still appear to justify investments.

A cabinet meeting on 6 June approved a production-sharing contract for Edinburgh-based Savannah Petroleum for blocks R1 and R2. A government statement said the blocks represented 50% of the Agadem Block, granted to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in 2007, suggesting the new blocks are relinquished acreage. Initial oil production from Agadem is supplying a refinery near Zinder and CNPC has plans to build an extension to the Chad-Cameroon pipeline to enable exports.

Find ways to store the electricity generated from solar, wind and other renewables, and these technologies may cease to be ‘intermittent’ sources of power – a game-changer that is expected to transform Africa’s electricity supply industry in the next decade or two. “Storage will make a lot of difference to the shape of the grid,” observed Gravitricity managing director and co-founder Charlie Blair, predicting that networks will emerge “without big spines and instead more of a nodal system”.

The authorities have overruled a complaint by MAN Diesel and given the Kipevu III contract to low bidder Wärtsilä, paving the way for 120MW of additional power to come on stream by end-2010, writes Kimemia Mugo

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative will hold its fourth international conference in Doha on 16-18 February 2009.

Kleinschmidt Associates has been awarded a contract funded by the US Trade and Development Agency to carry out feasibility studies for the Chilongo and Chimpili hydropower projects. Chilongo is being developed by MPF Development Consultants at Chilongo Falls on the Lufubu River in Kawambwa district, Luapula province. Chimpili is being developed by Bukota Company on the Kalugwishi River in the same district.

Pura Vida Energy has announced the sudden departure of chief executive Damon Neaves. Non-executive chairman Simon Eley will take over temporarily and the board will seek a replacement before a planned three-well drilling programme on the Nkembe Block offshore Gabon. Pura Vida is looking for a partner to come up with around $17m for the drilling programme. On 17 March, the Australian Securities Exchange suspended the company’s shares from trading for failing to lodge half-year accounts for the six months to 31 December.

Brazil’s Eletrobrás has signed an agreement with Electricidade de Moçambique for technical co-operation on a viability study of a transmission line in Mozambique

Australia’s WHL Energy has said that Ophir Energy has relinquished its Seychelles blocks. “Under the terms of the Petroleum Agreement, the blocks revert back to the Seychelles government,” WHL said. It said national oil company PetroSeychelles had formally notified the original licence holder PetroQuest International that the petroleum agreement dated 14 April 2014 relating to Blocks 5B/1, 5B/2 and 5B/3 was terminated. WHL acquired the blocks from PetroQuest in 2010 and farmed out 75% to Ophir in 2014. “WHL Energy continues to work closely with the Seychelles government in assessing the forward strategy for this prospect,” the company said.

A new 200MW power plant at Bir Mechergua built by the US’ GE is due to start up in June, Tunis Afrique Presse quoted industry minister Mohamed Lamine Chakhari as saying.

Veteran Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Renamo) leader Afonso Dhlakama’s surprise return to the bush in October 2012 was an unsettling reminder of the fragility of post-conflict Mozambique, as guerrilla roadblocks returned and coal exports were halted in the central region. Renamo’s rebellion was triggered by demands for a greater share of state jobs and resources. A peace agreement signed on 24 August 2014 promised jobs, above all in the army and police, and set a platform for campaigning to start for general elections on 15 October.

Industry scepticism about the project’s economics notwithstanding, on 23 January, President Uhuru Kenyatta shook hands with Total executive committee member Momar Nguer to confirm the French major’s commitment to investing in the Lokichar-Lamu oil pipeline. These things matter in East African oil and geostrategic manoeuvring; Uganda’s export pipeline was planned to pass through Lokichar until Total backed a rival route to Tanzania, but having since bought Maersk Oil, it needs an export route in Kenya too.

The African Development Bank has issued an SEK733m ($89.3m) Light Up and Power Africa bond, sold exclusively to Japan’s Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd. The funds will be used in the ordinary operations of the bank with an equal amount directed towards programmes investing in the power sector across the continent in line with the bank’s aim to achieve universal electricity access in Africa by 2025. The ten-year bond was a private placement settled on 21 September 2017 with Deutsche Bank as the sole arranger.

Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum is acquiring 2,000km2 of 3D seismic on the St Louis Shallow Block, which the company said would fulfil the first work programme commitment on the licence. The block contains two main four-way closures, Fish Eagle and Vulture, with prospective resources of 100m-200m barrels of oil. A third closure, Gainde, is located to the south. Oranto acquired the licence in 2015. A previous well, Cayar-1, was drilled on the block by Shell in 1977.

Critical non-governmental organisations in Addis Ababa at the third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3), or commenting from the sidelines, contested United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s assertion that the mid-July summit was a “critical step forward” in creating a global architecture to pull poorer economies out of poverty. Some critics remain uncomfortable that development finance initiatives generate profits, while FfD3 failed to pressurise wealthy economies into paying more.