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South Africa’s beleaguered power utility must rebuild its senior management as well as its finances after the relationship between the board and the chief executive collapsed. Angry politicking doesn’t help when critical funding plans and tariff hikes urgently need to be pushed through, write Thalia Griffiths and Jon Marks

GAZPROM: Into the trans-Atlantic business; SAMIR: Bitumen contract; SAMIR: Maintenance deal; SASOL: Carbon capture MoU; SONATRACH: Gasoline cooler contract

Petroleum Agency of South Africa (Pasa) has announced two awards following a licensing round earlier this year.

In a fresh blow to efforts to turn round South Africa’s struggling power sector, Eskom has been plunged into chaos by a public row between chief executive Jacob Maroga and chairman Bobby Godsell.

With commercial bank credit much diminished as a result of the global credit crunch, the use of medium- to long-term export credit agency insurance facilities to develop sub-Saharan projects in energy and other sectors looks set for an upturn, writes Kevin Godier

ESOLAR: Southern African tie-up; NAMPOWER: Fitch raises rating; ZAMBIA: Kariba North Bank funding

In a signal that the United States remains a player in the race to develop South Africa’s nuclear industry, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and his SA counterpart Dipuo Peters signed a bilateral agreement on nuclear energy research and development co-operation on 14 September in Vienna.

MAURITANIA: Spain to finance grid expansion; NIGERIA: Mobil to build power plant; SOUTH AFRICA: IPSA seeks buyer for Newcastle power

PETROSA: Venezuelan joint venture; Circle Oil: Plans to raise output in Egypt and Morocco

The short-term future of many of southern Africa’s power markets depends on Eskom’s investment plans.

Fears that the ambitious pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) project would suffer as the government reviewed its spending priorities seem to have been confirmed. The PBMR demonstration power plant project has been postponed because of a lack of funds.

The African Development Bank is committed to hydropower, reports François Misser, who met its president Donald Kaberuka and his team

Siemens Energy has won three orders to upgrade existing pump stations for Transnet Pipelines.

Eskom Holdings made a record annual loss of R9.7bn ($1.24bn) in the year to 31 March and warned of an R80bn funding shortfall in its expansion programme.

South African independent power producer Lesedi Biogas Project (LBP) has applied for a licence to build and operate an 8MW waste-to-power project in Heidelberg, near Johannesburg. The project is expected to enter commercial service in