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The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) have committed 100% of the initial $20m of project funds administered under the US-Africa Clean Energy Finance (ACEF) initiative, which aims to provide small amounts of early-stage funding for essential inputs such as technical and feasibility studies. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton launched ACEF at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 with an initial investment of $20m. At the US-Africa Leaders Summit in August 2014, her successor, John Kerry, announced the State Department’s intention to invest an additional $10m.

Negotiations on projects agreements for a planned refinery at Hoima are ongoing, though they are taking a little longer than the two months originally estimated. “These things take time,” acting director of Uganda’s Petroleum Exploration and Production Department, Ernest Rubondo, told African Energy. “It’s a $4bn project, it’s normal that it takes some time to work out.” A consortium led by Russia’s RT Global Resources was selected as preferred bidder in February, and talks began in Kampala in March.

Following expiry of the initial exploration phase extension, negotiations are taking place between the Joint Development Authority (JDA), which oversees the Nigeria/São Tomé Joint Development Zone, and companies holding stakes in blocks 2, 3 and 4. An initial six-month extension of exploration phase I in the three blocks expired on 14 March, and the contracting parties

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it will begin full rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries in January 2020. NNPC group managing director Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari announced the project on 21 September during a visit to the Port Harcourt Refinery Company, saying timely delivery was a priority. A number of rehabilitation projects have been proposed for Nigeria’s refineries but failed to materialise, while turnaround maintenance on the plants has been neglected and Nigeria is obliged to import most of its fuel.

London-based Invensys Process Systems has joined the local Engineering for the Petroleum & Process Industries (Enppi) and Egyptian Natural Gas Company (Gasco) in a joint venture to create Invensys Process System Egypt.

Algeria is expected to increase its gasoil imports during H1 2012 in order to compensate for a fall in output as the Skikda refinery undergoes maintenance work

Algeria and Portugal have resolved a long-running dispute over a ten-year-old promise to allow Sonatrach to take a 7% stake in oil company GALP Energia, as the two countries deepen their energy co-operation.

Royal Dutch Shell and partners are still considering whether to move forward with the second phase of the Gbaran Ubie oil and gas project, which will monetise another 3.4trn ft3 of gas extracted from the field.

The government has turned down a request from oil marketers to adjust fuel prices to cushion their losses from sharply lower sales as drivers stay home amid the coronavirus lockdown. On 6 May, the Supply Coordination Committee, which groups 17 oil marketing companies based in Kenya with retail networks across East Africa, wrote to the Ministry of Mining and Petroleum asking for petroleum products prices to be raised at the monthly review.

Citadel Capital’s energy distribution platform Taqa Arabia has signed a contract with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) to connect 66,000 new domestic customers with natural gas in areas where the infrastructure is already in place. The company said the contract formed part of a national effort to accelerate the development of Egypt’s energy sector and meet increasing national demand. “We view this new agreement as the crowning achievement of our energy distribution work in Egypt, and an indicator that our domestic investments have proven fruitful,” said Taqa Arabia chief executive Pakinam Kafafi.

If Juba and Khartoum can set aside their differences and pave the way for a resumption of oil exports from South Sudan via the north, it will still be some considerable time before previous production levels are attained.

Quantum Power Ghana Gas has signed an agreement with Golar LNG to construct a $500m floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal near the port of Tema. Quantum Power, a subsidiary of Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer’s Quantum Pacific Group, signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2013 with Ghana’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to develop LNG infrastructure at Tema port and work with the authorities to source LNG for national and regional use. It set a target date for first gas of 2016.

Tullow Oil has settled its dispute with the Ugandan government over the tax payable on Heritage Oil Corporation's sale of its assets in blocks 1 and 3A (AE 203/12).

The ruling military council has named Mahmoud Latif Amer as new petroleum minister in the interim cabinet appointed after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. Previously chairman of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas),

Total has signed an agreement with the government to set up a joint task force to ensure security for the Mozambique LNG project. The news comes after insurgents seized the port of Mocimboa da Praia in Cabo Delgado province, just south of the Afungi Peninsula where the LNG project is under construction.