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International oil companies in South Sudan will come under increased pressure to hire more locals in the years ahead, according to comments from South Sudan Ministry of Petroleum undersecretary Awow Daniel Chuang.

The International Organisation for Migration’s Juba office in Northern Bari has invited bidders to submit a tender for the design, supply and installation of a 0.4MWp roof-mounted solar PV system.

China under President Xi Jinping has shifted markedly from its position of not intervening in foreign conflicts – even in a multilateral context – and positioning its forces far from the People’s Republic. Beijing has stepped up its military presence in Africa over the last decade, in large part through its contributions to United Nations peace-keeping missions.

Protestors succeeded in blocking the shipment of crude through Port Sudan – critical to the oil industry in South Sudan, as well as to Khartoum’s income flows – in late September, underscoring the continued instability wrought by an incomplete regional peace agreement that has left key eastern tribes excluded, write Nazik Shammam in Khartoum and James Gavin.

Given the Sudanese treasury’s dependence on the $25/bbl transit fee accrued from South Sudanese oil flows, the authorities in Khartoum will need to keep the eastern situation under control. That is even more the case as the Republic of South Sudan’s exports have disappointed in recent years, reducing the size of the revenue pie.

A rarity until a few years ago, battery and renewable power plants have more recently outcompeted fossil fuel projects without subsidy in several African markets. The AIX: Financing Battery Storage meeting heard about the extent Bess projects are making headway, despite financiers’ reservations.

According to deputy foreign minister Deng Dau Deng Malek, the Juba government has started initial planning to build a dam on the White Nile. He told Abu Dhabi daily The National on 24 June that the dam would be used to control the flooding that affects most of South Sudan’s Upper Nile State for six months a year and to generate power. No decisions had been made on the plant’s size or its generating capacity.

The Ministry of Petroleum officially launched South Sudan’s first oil and gas licensing round in Juba on 23 June, with five blocks – A2, A5, B1, B4 and D2 – up for auction.

The country’s largest refinery was reported to have resumed operations on 27 March, after at least two months’ closure for routine annual maintenance. According to local media reports, the refinery will gradually ramp up operations to full capacity. Khartoum refinery runs at around 80% capacity due to insufficient crude supplies.

As African Energy editor Thalia Griffiths leaves to explore new opportunities, colleagues asked for her take on developments after 23 years leading the publication. For all the tragedies like the current Ethiopian conflict, she sees real hope for a better future on a continent where, in many places, governance has improved and previously marginalised populations are becoming empowered to enact positive change.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is seeking expressions of interest by 25 March to conduct an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) for the Freetown LNG terminal project. IFC has brought in Piraeus-based LNG carrier company GasLog as a partner to develop the terminal and expects a final investment decision this year, with a target commercial operation date of early 2024, coinciding with the start-up of its planned biggest offtake customer, the 90MW Western Area Power Generation Project (WAPGP) at Kissy Dock.

A mid-January agreement between Sudan and South Sudan to expand oil cooperation has raised expectations of improved relations yielding material benefits for both states from the south’s under-utilised hydrocarbons reserves. But familiar obstacles are blocking progress, writes James Gavin.

The signing of a peace agreement with a coalition of rebel groups hands Sudan’s interim leadership a chance to press the restart button on relations with the regions, potentially ending years of conflict and yielding opportunities for the country’s shrunken oil sector, writes James Gavin

President Salva Kiir has named a new petroleum minister in the national unity government announced on 12 March. Puot Kang Chol, an aide to first vice-president Riek Machar, takes over the oil portfolio as one of nine ministers from Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition. Machar’s wife Angelina Teny has been appointed defence and veterans’ affairs minister. Kang’s predecessor Awow Daniel Chuang is now ministry undersecretary.

Ethiopia’s failure to sign an agreement on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) negotiated over a four-month period in the United States has resulted in angry recriminations. The US Department of the Treasury has been facilitating preparation of the agreement alongside teams from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia and with technical input from the World Bank. Egypt and Sudan are concerned about how quickly Ethiopia will fill the reservoir for the dam and the potential effect it will have on the reallocation of Nile River water rights.