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South Sudan President Salva Kiir has shaken up the board of directors at state oil company Nilepet in a move that reinforces his personal influence over the company. Kiir issued a presidential decree in August making several new appointments to the board, including reinstating Benjamin Bol Mel, a business partner of the president, promoting current managing director Joseph Cleto Deng, Kiir’s former office manager, and appointing General Akol Kur Kuch, currently national security director.

The government is inviting expressions of interest for a contract for a study of the potential for using liquefied natural gas as part of Kenya’s thermal power mix. The study, to be part-financed by the World Bank, forms part of the Energy Sector Recovery Project.

The federal government on 26 April approved more appointments at the top of the oil industry, with further changes in the senior managements of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), several of its subsidiaries and the government's Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

BP’s decision to lift force majeure on its Libya exploration contracts just days after Shell announced it had suspended its activities reflects the uncertain outlook for both the country’s hydrocarbons prospects and its politics.

India’s Essar Oil, which owns 50% of Kenya’s Mombasa refinery, has offered to build Uganda’s planned refinery. “There has been a big oil find in Uganda. To process it, they

The government of Equatorial Guinea has signed an agreement with Dubai-based Arabian Energy DMCC to work together on the Bioko Oil Terminal. The two sides agreed to collaborate on the development, implementation, construction and financing of the $500m project to develop West Africa’s largest oil and petroleum products storage facility. Other partners in the project include South Africa’s SacOil, Nigeria’s Taleveras Exploration and Production, trader Gunvor Group and South Africa’s Strategic Fuel Fund Association, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the government in 2015.

The Brazzaville government has received some reward for the closure in 2008 of Congolaise de Trading (Cotrade), the controversial marketing arm of parastatal Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) that was chaired by the president’s son, Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso. Cotrade’s closure came after pressure from the International Monetary Fund and, on 28 January, the World Bank and IMF announced an agreement that will allow Republic of Congo to reduce its external debt by $1.9bn and benefit from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

CHAD: Chinese funding deals signed for N’djamena refinery; ANGOLA: KBR wins new contract for Sonaref technology; ZAMBIA: Indeni to seek new partner

There is a curious disconnection between Egypt’s dire political and financial straits and the relatively upbeat assessments from the international oil companies (IOCs) developing assets there. In spite of the continued closure of Eni and Union Fenosa’s Damietta LNG export terminal and the substantial debt owed by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to domestic gas producers, long-term prospects still appear to justify investments.

South Africa-based Engen Petroleum has completed the purchase of Total’s downstream operations in Guinea Bissau, Rwanda and Burundi. The agreement, signed on 31 July in Paris and effective from 19 November, sees Engen take over Total’s shareholding in Total Rwanda and in Total Burundi.

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has found itself caught in a Catch-22 situation. Ordered by the government to build up major stockpiles of gasoline ahead of the holiday season and February’s elections, it knows its accelerated imports will stoke the illicit trade in informal exports. Smugglers fill large jerry cans at service stations near border posts and load up their mopeds, motorbikes and cars to cross into countries where they can sell the product at higher prices.

India’s Essar Energy Overseas has agreed to buy a 50% stake in Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd (KPRL) from Shell Petroleum, Chevron Global and BP Africa. The government holds the other 50% equity in the 4m t/yr Mombasa refinery. The shareholders had been looking to sell up because they were reluctant to finance a planned upgrade.

National Oil Corporation’s policy of opening its downstream to private investors is bearing fruit in the petrochemicals sector, where Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara International in February confirmed a joint venture with NOC and Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) to upgrade the Marsa Al-Brega urea and ammonia plant.

Hydrocarbons minister Aimé Ngoy Mukena held talks on 30 November with Zhenghwei Technique Corporation managing director Tu Da Jun on a project for a new ministry building in Kinshasa and a proposed 100km products pipeline from the Zambian border to Lubumbashi.The Lubumbashi-Kasumbalesa pipeline would aim to cut transport costs by two thirds compared to tanker trucks, and to link up with other pipeline projects.

Following the completion of a prefeasibility study on a proposed pipeline from Mozambique’s Indian Ocean port of Beira to Malawi’s proposed inland port of Nsanje, Qatar’s Venessia Petroleum is preparing to launch an engineering and design study for the project (AE 131/20).