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The allocation of large parcels of land on the River Nile’s west bank to Saudi developer Acwa Power and Norway’s Scatec for the construction of giga-scale wind projects is another step forward for Egypt’s ambitious decarbonisation plans – which could ultimately result in large amounts of gas being freed up for export.

The Egyptian government has approved ExxonMobil’s exploration agreements with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) for the Cairo Offshore and Masry Offshore blocks, which are the most northern areas to be licensed in Egypt to date.

Centamin on 26 July announced the completion of preliminary work to expand its solar PV plant at the Sukari gold mine, near Marsa Alam on Egypt's Red Sea Coast. Centamin also said that qualifying tenders for Sukari’s connection to the grid had been received.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi have pledged to renew efforts to resolve their dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) during a meeting in Cairo. The two leaders said they would try to reach an agreement on the dam’s filling and operating procedures within four months.

Despite immense political and financial challenges caused by Egypt’s debt and currency crisis, and suggestions of inter-departmental conflicts over the control of sensitive dossiers, the energy authorities in Cairo and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) are continuing to plot an aggressive course towards the transformation of the power sector.

Actis has been selected as preferred bidder for what will be Egypt’s first power sector privatisation. The deal has yet to be formally announced but an industry source confirmed to African Energy that Actis was the successful bidder for a trio of wind plants built in the Gulf of Suez, which are being sold as a single entity.

While energy majors are pouring large sums into African markets such as Namibia that, until recently, had often been overlooked, the situation for independent oil and gas companies is also changing.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly and Central Bank of Egypt governor Hassan Abdalla face an imminent decision on whether to allow the operators of solar power projects at the Benban Solar Farm to convert Egyptian pound profits into dollars so they can meet a mid-July debt repayment deadline. At stake are both short-term financial stability and long-term credibility.

Petronas has shed some of its most significant African assets, as the Malaysian NOC revises its global portfolio to focus on higher grade assets outside the continent. However, its exit from Africa has added to an already complicated situation in Chad, writes James Gavin.

As Cairo seeks buyers for its prized power generation assets, it may have to accept lower prices than it wants, as investors shift away from gas-fuelled plants in light of climate change concerns. Potential buyers from the Gulf and elsewhere also recognise Egypt is under pressure to sell as a result of the country’s debt crisis. Complicating matters still further is the enmity between key arms of the state which could delay any deals, writes Moataz Khalil with John Hamilton.

The signing of a land agreement for a 10GW wind project by Masdar, Infinity Power and Hassan Allam Utilities is a major step forward for one of the huge renewable energy projects announced last year at the COP27 climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh.

Amid a waning consensus over strategy, the Opec+ meeting in early June broke up with African members unhappy at an unwelcome squeeze on their future production while Saudi Arabia made a unilateral output cut of 1m b/d, reflecting Riyadh’s determination to shape market forces, writes Jon Marks.

Amid the worst economic crisis since the Mubarak regime’s collapse in 2011 – highlighted by another credit downgrade in early May – foreign investors in Egypt are struggling to convert their local profits into hard currency. But even in this tough business environment some investors and financiers are signing up to major new renewable energy commitments, suggesting the prospects for profit and strategic positioning still outweigh the risks from dysfunction.

A first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) had arrived at Italy’s new regasification terminal in Piombino, and had begun offloading at the Tuscan facility, Eni said on 5 May. The LNG was supplied from the Damietta liquefaction plant in Egypt, which Eni now operates in a joint venture with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas).

The prospects for giga-scale renewable power projects in North Africa have never been better, leveraging off export-led green hydrogen projects and the advantages of adding cheap non-emitting capacity to already well-developed grids. But the latest figures from African Energy Live Data show that, over the next five years, North Africa will instead pour ever more natural gas into a growing fleet of open cycle plants, while relatively few wind and solar projects have firm completion dates.