Search results

Former Lundin Energy executives denied charges of any complicity in Sudanese atrocities as their trial opened in early September, with hearings in the Stockholm District Court that fit into a growing trend for prosecutors to target companies and senior personnel for war crimes and similar outrages, no matter when they were committed, writes Chris Stephen in Stockholm.

Toufik Hakkar was removed from his position as president director-general (PDG) of Sonatrach on 2 October, as President Abdelmadjid Tebboune appointed yet another official who has had decades of jobs in and around the national oil company, Rachid Hachichi, for a second stint in the job. 

Momentum continues to build for the two large export-oriented liquefied natural gas projects on Mozambique’s Afungi peninsula. TotalEnergies has confirmed longstanding speculation that work will resume at Mozambique LNG this year, while ExxonMobil is aiming for a final investment decision on its Rovuma project in 2025 – underpinned by the continuing role of foreign security forces in Cabo Delgado, writes Marc Howard.

Seven plaintiffs have filed a criminal complaint with Paris prosecutors against TotalEnergies, accusing the French major of negligence and indirect manslaughter during the March 2021 attack on Palma by Islamist insurgents.

The Ministry of Hydrocarbons’ mid-May roadshow event in London was an effort to firm up international interest in a string of blocks across central DR Congo and along its eastern border. In a problematic region, one big element for success could hinge on linking any finds into export infrastructure due to be built in neighbouring Uganda.

The Zambian government has said it will abandon the current 30-day pricing cycle for petroleum products and instead move to a 90-day review period, reversing a policy that was set late last year. However, the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has told African Energy that changing the price review mechanism cannot happen “overnight” and a number of issues need to be assessed before the current 30-day cycle can be discarded.

The South African government’s decision to approve state-owned PetroSA’s selection of an affiliate of Russia’s sanctioned Gazprombank as the preferred investment partner for the Mossel Bay GTL plant has sparked controversy.

Hopes that a buyer would emerge to take over Morocco’s mothballed Samir refinery have not been fulfilled, while arbitration proceedings enter a sixth year over Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi’s controversial asset in Mohammedia.

A deal between Abu Dhabi giant Adnoc and UK major BP to coinvest in Egyptian gas assets highlights how wealthy Gulf national oil companies are actively seeking potentially highly lucrative lower-carbon expansion opportunities across Africa, where NOCs from Qatar and Kuwait are among those also exploring opportunities, writes James Gavin.

With crude now flowing through the 1,982km Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, a fivefold increase in oil production beckons for Niger, amid signs that Niamey is emerging from post-coup isolation and has mended ties with Ecowas and the US – a critical factor in developing the greenfield uranium mine at Dasa.

While Gulf national oil companies like QatarEnergy and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) have focused most of their attention on Africa's upstream oil and gas opportunities there are still openings for investors in Africa’s refining sector.

Making the most of hydrocarbon resources and tackling perceived governance abuses are among the hot dossiers at the top of incoming President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko’s agenda. Policy-makers and investors need to be acutely aware that Senegal is waiting on radical change from its new Pastef government, write Waly Dione Faye and Jon Marks.

The clogging-up of a key oil export pipeline is one of the many bitter fruits of Sudan’s civil conflict, one year after Hemedti’s Rapid Support Forces launched its campaign against Khartoum. It is a serious problem for the authorities in Sudan and South Sudan alike.

The Djibouti government on 22 February cancelled a 30-year contract with Dubai’s DP World to manage the Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT). DP World had been active in Djibouti’s port since 2000, but Gulf involvement in Djibouti and other neighbouring countries has gained more serious traction since the launch in 2015 of the military campaign in Yemen, which is a short hop away across the Bab El-Mandeb Strait. DP World held 33% of DCT after winning the formal concession in 2006.

Key public and private sector parties have signed a cooperation agreement for the construction of an estimated $6bn natural gas pipeline from northern Mozambique to Gauteng, South Africa. The main signatories are Mozambique’s Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), Profin Consulting, SacOil Holdings and pipeline construction company China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPP).SacOil chief executive Dr Thabo Kgogo described the agreement as a key milestone in the development of the pipeline and distribution project.