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London AIM-listed Savannah Energy has said its acquisition of ExxonMobil and Petronas’ upstream and midstream assets in Chad and Cameroon is on track to be completed by year-end.

Moves by the South African and Mozambican governments to take control of the Rompco pipeline showed the fundamental shift in Pretoria’s strategic view, as big beasts Eskom and Sasol look to decarbonise. There is significant potential for a regional gas economy – underlined by urgent action to end the jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado – but past politics and indecision is tempering optimism, writes Dan Marks

The Eni and ExxonMobil-led Mozambique Rovuma Venture has submitted a development plan to the government for the first phase of the Rovuma liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Afungi, which will produce, liquefy and market natural gas from the Mamba fields in Area 4.The plan details the proposed design and construction of two LNG trains which will each produce 7.6m t/yr of LNG.

TotalEnergies now expects the Area 1 project to start producing gas for export in 2026 at the earliest – formally acknowledging a delay of at least two years from its expected 2024 start.

LNG projects have faced a buffeting amid the security crisis in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region. While the timeline for Eni’s 3.4m t/yr Coral South floating LNG project looks robust, bigger schemes face further delays as a shaken gas sector takes account of an insurgency that can no longer be ignored – and which also poses questions about stability in southern Tanzania as a new leadership there makes soothing noises about investment, write James Gavin and Marc Howard.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and its partners announced a final investment decision (FID) on 18 June for the Area 1 Mozambique LNG project. The project will be Mozambique’s first onshore liquefied natural gas development, initially consisting of two LNG trains with total nameplate capacity of 12.88m t/yr processing gas from the Golfinho/Atum fields in Offshore Area 1. The project has secured 11.1m t/yr of long-term LNG sales to clients in Asia and Europe, representing 86% of the plant’s nameplate capacity, and will also have a significant domestic gas component.

The suicide bombing of a gendarmerie barracks in Ouargla and shock jihadist victories in Mali are fuelling unease about the future of the vast Sahara-Sahel region, adding to the uncertain political mood in Algiers, write Oualid Khelifi and Jon Marks

With elections looming in February, President Muhammadu Buhari will be seeking to avoid a repeat of the chaos when petrol filling stations across Africa’s leading oil and gas exporter almost ran dry last December and January. Buhari’s main challenger, veteran politician and businessman Atiku Abubakar, will be quick to highlight economic mismanagement and stress his preference for wholesale reform of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources as well as the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its malfunctioning oil refineries.

Nigerian ambitions for the downstream sector remains in limbo, with uncertainty afflicting key projects aimed at ending the ruinously expensive habit of the continent’s major crude producer being a net importer of oil products, writes James Gavin.

The problems of Nigeria’s southeast are rarely far from being a political and oil company preoccupation. Issues of governance and reputational damage weigh heavy on majors’ perceptions about operating in a lucrative but troubled region as lawyers busy themselves acting for local communities against Royal Dutch Shell and potentially other IOCs in a series of class actions. The new military top team appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari is challenged with reducing insecurity, including from rising levels of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has criticised the impetus from rich countries to divest from fossil fuels in a strongly-worded article for New York-based Foreign Affairs magazine, In The divestment delusion: Why banning fossil fuel investments would crush Africa, published on 31 August.

Ever since Chinua Achebe borrowed from WB Yates’ lines, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” for his ground-breaking novel of late colonial Nigeria, the phrase ‘things fall apart’ has been used to describe episodes in Nigerian politics. It is again relevant to ask whether the embattled Nigerian state can hold when confronted by a dizzying range of crises, writes Marc Howard.

The Abuja government has given a green light for construction of the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) connecting Nigeria, Morocco and at least 11 countries in between.

Egypt’s role in brokering the 21 May ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has refocused attention on the two countries’ energy relations. It showed Cairo enjoying renewed relevance in both Washington and Tel Aviv, and potentially seeking to capitalise through commercial side-benefits.

As Europe looks for alternative sources of natural gas to replace its current dependence on Russia, Italy may be best placed to gain additional export volumes from Algeria thanks largely to Eni’s historic commitment to the country. The depth of this relationship is again being  demonstrated as chief executive Claudio Descalzi shepherds through the deal to take over BP’s stakes in the strategically important In Amenas and In Salah gas projects. Lacking a similar depth of commitment, the UK-based major is pulling back perhaps a a consequence of the of the 2013 Jihadist attack on the Tiguentourine complex at In Amenas.  Read  African Energy analysis of Algiers’ response to Europe’s energy crisis.