Search results

The purchase of BG Group by Royal Dutch Shell confirmed predictionsthat the falling oil price would trigger a spate of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the upstream industry. It points to a need for even the biggest players to build scale in developing their natural gas trade; for Shell, BG’s assets in Australia and the Atlantic Basin (Brazil) will help to secure a dominant position in Asian and other key markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The Department of Energy has released the draft Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) report for public consultation “as part of a process to formulate an integrated energy plan, which will outline a recommended energy roadmap for South Africa and guide investment decisions”. A period of public discussion will follow, as different stakeholder groups try to hammer out consensus on a sustainable long-term trajectory for the country (the IEP looks towards 2050). The IEP – with the expected new Integrated Resource Plan – will encompass Eskom’s plans for more coal-fired capacity, and also consolidate the so far successful effort to install major renewables capacity; it should also push forward the debate over new gas and nuclear infrastructure.

There is speculation that Rachid Ghannouchi’s Islamist Ennahda (Renaissance) party will gain a big slice of the vote when Tunisia goes to the polls on 23 October to elect the constituent assembly that will draw up a new constitution, and that polling will be followed by significant changes in the interim government ahead of an elected administration emerging by H2 2012.

South Africans, with President Jacob Zuma at their head, have long dreaded Nelson Mandela’s death, as not only a sad close to a major chapter in history, but also because it will force the nation to look more closely at its values, leadership and governance. Many South Africans do not like what they see, to the extent that Mandela’s political legacy may no longer be the ruling African National Congress (ANC)’s sole preserve, as new movements emerge on the left and the Democratic Alliance (DA) seeks to widen its appeal.

Zimbabwe is highly unlikely to eradicate the crony capitalist structures that have favoured the Mugabe clan and other Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) grandees any time soon. But the president’s departure could favour a measured transition, building on initiatives to normalise the economy undertaken by regime officials such as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya and Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) managing director Noah Fari Gwariro. Even at 92 years old, it seems imprudent to write off President Robert Mugabe, whose ruthless political cunning has seen off international sanctions and domestic challenges.

The newsflow out of South Africa is unprecedented in its volume and the seriousness of the allegations in its content. The run-up to the African National Congress (ANC) elections, which will take place during the 54th National Conference in Kimberley on 16-20 December and are likely to decide the next president of the country, has seen a firestorm of accusations and political manoeuvring with the energy sector at its heart.

There was little surprise when SunEdison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 21 April, given the scale of its fall from grace – from nearly $10bn market capitalisation in mid-2015 to a 99% share price collapse and emergency asset sales less than one year later. The US developer’s crisis poses questions about the future of its substantial portfolio – which includes five projects with combined 371MW capacity in South Africa, awarded in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme’s expanded fourth round – and the health of the wider solar industry.

Another Sudanese drama beckons with President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir’s threat to shut off the main pipeline linking oil fields in the soon-to-be-independent south with the export terminal at Port Sudan unless the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) continues to share revenues or pays a transit fee on every barrel exported

Continued fighting in Côte d’Ivoire’s main city underlines that, despite the dramatic capture of former president Laurent Gbagbo, the conflict is far from over. Some 16 years after he was excluded from the 1995 election, Alassane Ouattara finally gets to be president, but in the worst possible circumstances.

A wave of strikes, adding to the localised protests across the country over social and economic issues, says much about the current mood in a North African state that has so far resisted the galvanic change that marked the early months of the Arab Spring.

Tunisia’s Jasmine revolution, which drove Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile in Saudi Arabia on 13 January, was the unexpected trigger that has made Arab populations wake up after decades of submission to personalised, autocratic regimes. But it is events in Egypt that will drive how the ‘Arab street’ and those who seek

Sonatrach director-general Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour regularly tours the hydrocarbons giant’s sprawling empire, rallying workers and telling journalists about Algeria’s return to producing oil and gas on a global scale, after years of corruption scandals and management inertia. On his 8 February visit to Hassi R’Mel, he announced that Sonatrach would invest $56bn in 2018-22. In an interview, he referred to discussions with Total on an unspecified $5bn project. After a long period of tensions with the French major, this is likely to be a major new petrochemicals project, giving further substance to claims Algeria is back as a force in the industry.

With West Africa in its first weeks of confronting the coronavirus pandemic, nothing would have been easier, and more face-saving, for President Alpha Condé than to announce another postponement of Guinea’s National Assembly elections (originally due in April 2019) and its parallel referendum on constitutional changes. But the vote went ahead on 22 March, leaving Guinea in an uncomfortable, and potentially explosive, place.The new law is certainly desirable, replacing the hastily drafted constitution that was introduced as Guinea turned its back on decades of dictatorship in 2010.

Two decades ago, coups d’état were a norm across West Africa. The late historian Anthony Kirk-Greene in 1981 published Stay by your radios, gathering together the remarkably similar dawn broadcasts made by incoming military juntas across tropical Africa.

As African Energy editor Thalia Griffiths leaves to explore new opportunities, colleagues asked for her take on developments after 23 years leading the publication. For all the tragedies like the current Ethiopian conflict, she sees real hope for a better future on a continent where, in many places, governance has improved and previously marginalised populations are becoming empowered to enact positive change.