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The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) scheme has secured more funding for studies – this time from the Opec Fund for International Development – despite some scepticism about the mega-project’s potential to ever get off the ground. Consultants have been lining up, with Australia’s Worley contracted to provide engineering services.

Less than a year from elections, numerous candidates are eyeing up the prize of taking over from President Muhammadu Buhari. 

Crippling foreign exchange shortages have led Starsight Energy to refinance its debt to two development finance institutions through local currency funding from Chapel Hill Denham’s Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund.

Savannah subsidiary Accugas has signed an addendum to a gas sales agreement with First Independent Power (FIPL) which could see Accugas increase supplies by 30 mcf/d to 65 mcf/d.

Transcorp Power plans to increase generation capacity by 243MW, in part from the return of some capacity at the Ughelli gas-fired power plant. 

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and its partners are planning to create what they call the world’s largest mini-grid market in Nigeria, using the new Leveraging Energy Access Finance (Leaf) financing model to support the Rural Electrification Agency (REA)’s Nigeria Electrification Programme (NEP).

With its redomiciling from Australia to Norway completed at end-February, PetroNor is now looking to increase production from its African assets. However, the investigation into former chief executive Knut Søvold continues, following his arrest in December over projects in Africa.

Oil output in Algeria remains below the amount allowed under the Opec+ arrangement – something which is also the case for several other big African producers, as shown by the cartel’s Monthly Oil Market Report for March. According to their official filings, almost all African producers are producing below their agreed quota.

Among Russia’s portfolio of interests in Africa – which include a large military sales business and nuclear development ambitions – state-owned entities such as Gazprom, Gazpromneft and Rosneft have built up hydrocarbons industry interests in markets around the continent, from Algeria in the north to Nigeria, and Angola and Mozambique south of the Sahara.  African Energy examines Russia's investments in Africa's upstream sector and its possible strategic objectives.

European leaders are confronting the urgent need to diversify energy supplies away from Russia, while also somehow keeping to their commitments to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, that they made – indeed pioneered – at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, just four months ago.  African Energy examines the options and projects under discussion including gas and electricity imports and hydrogen prospects.

Seplat Energy was forced on 7 March to scotch rumours that its ambitious $1.6bn acquisition of ExxonMobil’s shallow-water assets in Nigeria had been terminated. This came after local media reported that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had exercised a right of pre-emption under the NNPC/Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) joint operating agreement (JoA).

The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has opened bids for the construction of up to 4GW of nuclear power. Nuclear power has been a long-held ambition for Nigeria; an enabling environment for procurement has been gradually put into place.

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has awarded grants for 11 solar PV mini-grids. Technical and financial support is being provided by the European Union and German government through the Nigerian Energy Support Programme.

Nairobi-based Camco Clean Energy’s new specialised finance company Spark Energy Services is looking to fund solar PV and wind plants, plus energy efficiency initiatives for commercial and industrial (C&I) developers. Spark’s ‘impact-led’ approach intends to enable local developers in sub-Saharan markets to build scale and their balance sheets, in turn creating sustainable C&I businesses

Announcements of big funding commitments and project completions in the last three months point to the commercial and industrial market continuing to grow at a rapid pace, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa’s larger economies.