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Nigeria’s recent position as a hawk on Opec+ quotas – with its recent output below its assigned production allowance – may be coming to an end as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies move to gradually increase output following the cartel’s 1 April meeting.

National oil company Petrozim Line has awarded a ten-month contract to Penspen for work on the 208km Feruka-Harare pipeline, which the UK-based firm originally designed. Penspen will deliver engineering and procurement support services for the multi-product pipeline project.

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) managing director James Mataragio has told African Energy that talks on a host government agreement for the estimated $30bn Tanzania liquified natural gas (LNG) project being spearheaded by Equinor and Shell will resume this month.

São Tomé and Príncipe has set up formal diplomatic relations with Qatar on 4 May, with a joint communiqué signed in New York by the chargé d'affaires of São Tomé and Príncipe’s mission to the United Nations.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has successfully drilled the first well on Tulu Moye geothermal project and has begun drilling a second well, according to a mid-April statement. The five-phase project is expected to eventually generate 520MW.

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has extended the contract for the 56MW Muhoroni gas turbines GT1 and GT2 in Kisumu until a new geothermal supply for the region has stabilised. The turbines belong to state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) and feed western Kenya.

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) appears to have decided to retain its 15% stake in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) and not to exercise an option to reduce its holding to 5% in the project, which is expected to come to the international market for debt finance later this year

Opec’s second smallest producer faces a slow decline in output while it tries to revive international interest in its maturing fields after a planned 35-block licensing round was torpedoed by Covid-19, writes James Gavin Gabonese crude oil production fell by a further 6% last year, to an average of 195,000 b/d, and the latest Opec figures show the slide accelerated in Q1 2021, when just 181,000 b/d was produced. There was a slight increase, to 185,000 b/d, in April but that still means Gabonese production is down 50% from its 1997 peak of 370,000 b/d.

Weeks after his inevitable election victory, President Denis Sassou Nguesso celebrated 37 years in power by naming a new prime minister, Anatole Collinet Makosso, to head a government that includes four ministers of state, 30 ministers and two junior ministers.

London AIM-listed Sound Energy has given further details of its reshaped project to develop and monetise Tendrara’s 377bcf discovered natural gas resource, securing a powerful local partner prior to it raising funds for its initial micro liquefied natural gas (LNG) project and moving to a final investment decision.

Announcing Q1 21 results on 20 May, SDX Energy chief executive Mark Reid thanked London-based multilateral the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for renewing a $10m credit facility. The EBRD in December signed an agreement for Project Green Light II to provide SDX Energy Morocco up to $25m from a senior secured reserve-based loan, to part-finance its $65m investment plan to expand operations in the kingdom.

Sonatrach signed a memorandum of understanding with Norway’s Equinor on 17 May, with a headline commitment to boost co-operation in oil exploration and production and in new carbon transition sectors. Importantly, Algerian executives said they also discussed extending existing upstream contract terms beyond 2027 and securing the Norwegian major’s leading role in the In Salah and In Amenas natural gas projects.

The least challenged by jihadist insurgency among the G5S states, the Mauritanian military is seen by western governments as a solid ally. President Mohammed Ould Ghazouani was a longstanding defence minister, supporting ex-president Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz – who now faces charges of misusing state funds

One of the world’s poorest countries – with a 44% poverty rate and $420 per capita income – hosts over 240,000 refugees and more than 300,000 IDPs, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says.

Independent power producer (IPP) Southern Energy is targeting Q3 2021 to install the first 25MW at a solar plant in Hwange district near Victoria Falls. Southern Energy chairman Barry Nyabonda told African Energy this first phase will begin feeding the grid from around August; further phases are planned which will expand the capacity fourfold.