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Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities and Egyptian Electricity Holding Company to carry out a preliminary study and feasibility study for a series of wind and solar-powered water desalination projects in Egypt. The studies will be submitted to the Egyptian authorities to form the basis of future policy.

Sweden’s PA Resources will hold an extraordinary general meeting on 23 November to decide on the board’s proposal to delist from the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Any administration would be hard-pressed to cope with Cyclone Idai. For central Mozambique, southern Malawi and eastern Zimbabwe, the catastrophe is piled onto already often poorly served communities and underperforming governments. Even after the most severe storm hit on 14-15 March, news outlets and the donor community took time to appreciate the scale of the disaster – as mosque killings, Brexit and Donald Trump jostled for airtime that might have helped generate more immediate support.

Uganda is planning a licensing round next year, and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development is evaluating bids from consultancy companies to assist with the process. Ministry principal geologist Fred Kabanda told Global Pacific & Partners’ Africa Oil Week conference in Cape Town on 5 November that despite the exploration successes of recent years, the Albertine Graben was only 40% explored, and plenty of prospectivity remained. Many areas had been relinquished, sub-commercial discoveries had been returned to the government, and many identified leads and prospects had not been drilled.

For a short period on 22-24 February, Durban’s International Convention Centre became the focal point for the policy divides that are becoming ever more public as South Africa settles uneasily into Jacob Zuma’s presidency.

The World Bank board approved guarantees for the Banda gas-to-power project on 29 May. The package comprises partial risk guarantees worth up to $261m and a Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency breach of contract guarantee of up to $585m for up to 20 years. The guarantees will not become effective until other legal agreements are signed, which can take a number of months following board approval. Timings for the project are uncertain as upstream operator Tullow Oil has yet to reach a final investment decision.

BP expects to start drilling offshore Libya next year as soon as its freshly commissioned drilling ship Pride Deep Ocean Ascension is ready

Erin Energy, the former Camac Energy, has named John Hofmeister as chairman, replacing Kase Lawal, who is retiring in May as chairman and chief executive. Hofmeister is a former president of Shell Oil Company in the US. The company, which has assets in Kenya, Nigeria, Gambia and Ghana, also announced the appointment of its current chief operating officer, Segun Omidele, as chief executive. Omidele, an exploration and production professional, has been with Erin since 2011. He was senior vice-president for exploration and production for Allied Energy Corporation from 2008 to 2011.

Canada’s SNC-Lavalin on 22 August announced the completion of its C$2.1bn acquisition of oil and gas engineering company Kentz Corporation. The transaction significantly increases SNC-Lavalin’s oil and gas capacity, creating an engineering and construction group with 45,000 employees, annual revenues of C$10bn and an order backlog of roughly C$13bn in 2013.

Lundin affiliate Africa Oil Corporation has further expanded its Kenyan holdings by signing an agreement with Platform Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alberta Oilsands, to take over Platform’s 100% interest in blocks 12A and 13T.

Critical energy sector developments moved slowly while the presidential election dominated public life. But in a recent flurry of activity, the country has put gas infrastructure investment at the top of its agenda, writes John Hamilton.

Morocco’s Office National de l’Electricité invites bids by 15 September for 5,719 solar photovoltaic units to be installed as part of Senegal’s rural electrification programme.

Sudan has been looking to build alliances where it can, with energy co-operation a tool for building links, and Khartoum retains the ability to deal with even such champions of human rights as Norway, which on 15 October signed a new petroleum sector co-operation agreement.

Nasarawa State Government has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nigerian company Kuber Power Ltd (KPL) to build a 200MW solar power project on Shendam Road in Lafia, according to a 9 May announcement on Facebook. The announcement said the PPA had been signed on an eligible customer basis. Nasarawa State will own 2.5% of the project, which it says will cost $300m. KPL expects to be onsite within seven weeks. KPL is owned by Kuber Power Africa and Nigerian consultancy firm Bowie Hertz and Company Ltd.

Minister of Energy Dikobe Ben Martins told reporters at an energy roundtable in Johannesburg on 11 February that a deadline of end-March had been agreed for requests for proposals to be issued for the baseload and cogeneration independent power producer procurement process. Procurement will be in line with ministerial determinations published in December 2012; 2,652MW gas, 2,609MW hydropower and 2,500MW coal for the baseload programme, 800MW cogeneration from biomass, industrial waste and combined heat and power sources. Additionally the department plans to procure 474MW of short term natural gas as indicated by the Medium-Term Risk Mitigation plan.