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Sonangol’s interests in São Tomé e Príncipe extend beyond the oil sector, according to a director of the Angolan state company, Mateus de Brito.

Houston-headquartered Vaalco Energy has secured a five-year reserve-based lending (RBL) facility from Glencore Energy UK of $50m, which could be expanded to $100m. 

Construction work on a 225kV transmission line connecting Nyambizan and Yaoundé, which will evacuate power from the 211MW Memve’ele hydroelectric power plant, is nearing completion. Work has suffered delays due to the process of compensating host communities in the path of the project.

It may be a major player around the continent, but Italian major Eni has confirmed it has ended its involvement in South Africa’s upstream sector, following the transfer of its entire participating interest in the Exploration Right permit 236 (ER236) to its partner Sasol.

While advocacy groups are posing questions about the funding of the Lake Albert upstream scheme – and putting pressure on banks not to participate  – operator TotalEnergies on 9 June told African Energy that project financing for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) was being provided by shareholder equity and external debt, which is “being arranged with interested international financial institutions”.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) project has emerged as an important element in French NGO Reclaim Finance (RF)’s campaign against the financing of oil and gas projects. RF campaign manager Guillaume Pottier told African Energy that the group was aiming “to ensure financial institutions no longer directly or indirectly support the development of new oil and gas”.

French independent Perenco has completed its acquisition of Swiss commodity trader Glencore’s upstream oil interests in Chad, with plans to boost output from the Doba basin’s Mangara, Badila and Krim fields.

With gas prices rising, times are changing for Sociedad Nacional de Gas (Sonagas GE). Speaking to African Energy at the recent Africa Energy Forum in Brussels, director-general Juan Antonio Ndong Ondo said Sonagas GE is looking to develop renewables to help free up gas for export.

TotalEnergies and its partners in Block 17 offshore Angola are to invest $850m in the third phase of the Clov oil development, following a final investment decision (FID) announced this month by Angola’s upstream regulator the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG).

A string of UAE companies – some with links to national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan – are said to be involved in a plan to develop a new Red Sea port, working with Sudanese businessman Osama Daoud Abdellatif. In a complex political situation, this might also be of interest to regime number two Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (aka Hemedti)’s friends in Russia.

Panoro Energy is expected to complete the sale of its interest in Offshore Mining Lease (OML) 113 in offshore Nigeria to PetroNor E&P by 15 July, following a further two-week delay announced by the companies on 30 June.

Many in Nigeria believe the authorities’ move to implement minimum electricity generation capacity is politically motivated. With elections due in 2023, the pressure is on President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to demonstrate its achievements. Reaching a minimum 5GW of available generation capacity would be an improvement from past administrations.

Wentworth Resources’ buy into the Ruvuma PSA is another expression of heightened corporate interest in the Tanzanian upstream, which has been buoyed up by President Samia’s investor-friendly message and the progress made to make Shell and Equinor’ estimated $30bn Lindi LNG project a reality, writes James Gavin

With over 7.4GW of engine capacity installed across 45 countries, Helsinki-headquartered Wärtsilä reports progress on its own co-developed power projects in four sub-Saharan markets – Nigeria, Gabon, Mozambique and Malawi – as well as for a range of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for gas-to-power (GTP) schemes.

The second phase of the Sierra Leone mini-grids project being undertaken by Winch Energy is expected to be completed in the coming months, according to vice president for business development Chris Kanani.