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African nations need to spend $15.7bn to curb refinery emissions and meet climate-change targets, according to the African Refiners and Distributors Association (Arda). It said governments should focus on reducing sulphur levels in petroleum products because the consumption of fossil fuels on the continent will rise quickly in the coming decades, even as the supply of clean energy expands.

BP plc has backed up its claim of wanting to become the world’s first oil major to leave hydrocarbons in the ground, by paying the Banjul government to avoid drilling an exploration well in an offshore block.

London AIM-listed Sound Energy announced that its Sound Energy Morocco East (Semel) subsidiary’s micro liquified natural gas (mLNG) phase one development plan at Tendrara had secured a binding ten-year, take-or-pay LNG sale and purchase agreement with, and equity placing by, major Moroccan corporate Afriquia Gaz.

A feasibility study on the 60MW Imaloto coal power plant being developed at Imaloto in Toliara province by Lemur Holdings, a subsidiary of Guernsey-registered Bushveld Minerals, is ready for sign-off pending a site visit, according to Bushveld’s annual report released in July. It said most environmental studies had been completed and submission to the Ministry of the Environment was expected in H2 2021. 

Tower Resources on 10 August announced a binding heads of agreement to farm out a 49% non-operating working interest in the Thali production-sharing contract (PSC) to Lagos-based Beluga Energy. The farm-out – for a 119km2 block in water depths 8-48 metres in the Rio del Rey Basin – provides $15m towards the Njom-3 well’s approximately $16.8m cost.

A group led by Jersey-registered Kuwait Energy plc spudded ASX-1X, the second exploration well drilled this year in the onshore Abu Sennan licence, on 14 August.

Engineering, procurement and construction contractor Siemens Gamesa has told African Energy that ten of the 60MW Ghoubet wind plant’s 17 SG3.4-132 turbines have been installed; full installation is expected by early October.

Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) is halting support for two solar PV projects after grid impact assessments found that existing infrastructure was insufficient to evacuate power from them.

Trials of leading figures linked to the now disgraced ‘Bouteflika clan’ continue, along with former senior military and civilian officials close to the ousted regime. Prominent among them are the Kouninef brothers, Réda and Tarek, who – like many others held since Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s 2019 removal from the presidency – are in prison but continue to be summoned over other cases proceeding through the justice system.

Dutch development bank FMO has closed a $2.1m follow-on investment in off-grid solar company D.light.

Much of the analysis of Gerd still refers to the project as having 6GW generation capacity. African Energy Live Data’s figure is lower at 4.9GW. The reason for this is simple: the project was derated in 2020, as noted in a report from the Italian main contractor Webuild (formerly Salini Impregilo).

UK-headquartered explorer Impact Oil & Gas announced the completion of a farm-out transaction with Royal Dutch Shell in late August, delivering the Anglo-Dutch supermajor a 50% stake in the Transkei & Algoa blocks offshore South Africa in a process first agreed in November 2020.

Houston-based Vaalco Energy’s Vaalco Gabon affiliate signed a binding letter of intent (LoI) on 25 August with World Carrier Offshore Services Corporation to provide and operate a floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit at the Etame Marin field. The arrangement was approved by Vaalco’s partners on 31 August. It is for an initial eight years, with an option to extend. 

Investment fund manager Amethis has sold its 22% minority stake in Burkina Faso’s leading liquid petroleum gas (LPG) bottle distributor, Sodigaz APC, to African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). Sodigaz claims a market share exceeding 60% and distribution network of 2,200 gas resellers. 

The government is reviewing the $6bn infrastructure-for-minerals deal concluded by then President Joseph Kabila Kabange and Chinese investors, in the context of a broader examination of mining contracts, finance minister Nicolas Kazadi told Reuters on 27 August.