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Exasperated by delays to implementation of a payments disclosure provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, Oxfam America filed a lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 16 May

African leaders, backed by key donors, earlier this year approved another initiative to increase electricity generation and access across the continent; and multilateral and government officials have since been working to put flesh on the bones of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). Jointly developed by the African Union (AU), New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) and African Development Bank to map out an energy infrastructure development programme in the period to 2040, PIDA promises much – and its ambitious goals are to be welcomed. “The programme aims for achieving energy accessibility of all the African population of not less than 60% by 2040. This requires annual growth of the energy sector by 6.2% and an annual investment of $40.5bn,” a recent PIDA document says.

Long a major oil producer, Angola is increasingly looking to gas, with the start-up of the Soyo liquefaction plant enabling the state to monetise a potentially lucrative commodity that was previously flared

President Kabila is looking to a new government, unprecedented oil production, a Chinese-style Special Economic Zone and a strategic treaty with South Africa to relaunch the Grand Inga project and rekindle international support for his malfunctioning regime

The Ministry of Mines and Geology has approved Simba Energy’s acquisition of a 60% stake in blocks 1 and 2 in the onshore Bove Basin

The conflict between selling valuable crude on the international market and using it to boost domestic fuel production is particularly acute in Libya, which has the capacity to refine about 19m t/yr of products but needs a further 4m t/yr to meet demand, according to estimates from National Oil Corporation (NOC)

Frank Timis’ African Petroleum Corporation says it is in preliminary discussions with a number of Chinese companies “which may potentially lead to an investment being made in African Petroleum”

Work is advancing on the Grand Poubara dam being built by Sinohydro to supply a manganese project at Moanda and increase supply to the national grid. In its first phase, the hydro plant will produce 160MW from four 40MW turbines, rising to 280MW in a second phase.

Office National de l’Electricité (ONE) has selected a consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles, in association with Mitsui & Co, as preferred bidder for the 150MW Taza wind project.

The multilateral created to pull former communist economies into the global market is gearing up to provide significant support for North Africa, but like other elements of the so-called Deauville Partnership, things are not moving as quickly as supporters of the ‘Arab Spring’ would like, writes Jon Marks

Sierra Leone’s much vaunted reconciliation is looking more fragile than ever as November’s elections approach, at a time when – as African Energy’s new upstream oil update table shows – resources companies are expressing more interest than ever in the country’s potential for yielding hydrocarbons and minerals, writes Thalia Griffiths

The Ministry of Energy has granted Tap Oil a 12-month extension of the initial exploration period under the petroleum agreement for the Offshore Accra contract area, allowing extra time to drill a well.

Kenya’s onshore promise has prompted Tullow Oil to accelerate its drilling programme, and results could prove decisive in settling long-standing disputes over development plans for neighbouring Uganda, but international boundary disputes between Kenya and Ethiopia could pose a risk down the line, writes Adrian J Browne

BG Group and Ophir Energy’s joint venture in Tanzania has made a fifth consecutive gas discovery in its acreage in the Mzia-1 well. In what Ophir chief executive Nick Cooper describes as its “highest risk East African well to date”, the explorer estimates that mean in-place resources of 3.5tcf have been located, but this could be as high as 6tcf.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation is seeking bids for project consultancy services for the 100MW Assela wind farm project, to be built south-east of Addis Ababa.