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Another, unrelated fuel scandal has continued to unfold in the Malawian energy industry, following up the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation, opened in March 2020, into what has come to be known as ‘Dieselgate’, the theft of fuel from National Oil Company of Malawi (Nocma) meant for the ‘emergency’ diesel plants that have been operational in Malawi since 2018.

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.

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.

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. 

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has extended almost $1.8bn of financing support to the Nigerian oil and gas industry in deals with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and local independent Eroton E&P in a sign that some export credit agencies are still ready to support hydrocarbons despite the post-COP26 pushback against the sector 

As its new government shakes up a number of state agencies, Morocco is expected to set up a new division within national natural resources company Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) to manage domestic and cross-border natural gas infrastructure.

The Zambian government has shelved a plan to reintroduce taxes on imported fuel, in an effort to keep prices lower. In December, fuel prices increased after the government removed subsidies on petroleum products in an effort to better reflect market prices. Zambia has migrated to a monthly pricing cycle that makes local pump prices more responsive to shifts in international oil prices and foreign currency exchange rates.

Ignoring pressure on him to stand down, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dabaiba has authorised the Ministry of Finance to pay for a major new oil refinery in south-west Libya. The project is already the subject of an intricate financing scheme

Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman Mustafa Sanalla says outgoing Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dabaiba’s Government of National Unity (GNU)’s failure to pay the national oil company’s budgets means oil production could fall at any moment – and there is no scope to increase gas exports to Italy.

Eswatini Electricity Company is inviting proposals to supply gas for a planned large combined cycle power plant, despite issues surrounding feedstock imports. Submissions are due by 27 May.

Australian gas explorer Kinetiko Energy said it had encountered significant gas formations at all three Korhaan project wells in the northern Karoo Basin of South Africa. In the near future, the company plans to enter a pilot production phase  – using existing wells at Brakfontein – with gas-to-power partners Vutomi Energy.

Algerian leaders have been enjoying the extent to which markets have shifted since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, allowing Sonatrach to deflect any downside from the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline (GME)’s closure as it redirects gas away from Spain to other more favoured European partners – all the while maintaining the regime’s traditionally strong strategic relationship with Russia. As widely predicted, Italy is the major initial beneficiary.

Bioethanol producer Sunbird Bioenergy is due to start trials in August to blend petroleum with ethanol produced from cassava feedstock, with Indeni Petroleum Refinery as the off-taker.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on 15 September between Morocco’s Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym), Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to progress the 7,000km Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) project.

Fresh criticism from the European Parliament of the controversial scheme to drill for oil in Lake Albert and export the crude to Tanzania via a 1,400km pipeline adds to pressures on the project’s shareholders. The reputational risk has made dozens of major banks and insurers distance themselves from the project, but Uganda and Tanzania remain adamant Eacop should go ahead, writes James Gavin.