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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.

A contractor working for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation has been killed in an attack in northern Mozambique as the company moves closer to a final investment decision on its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project with two more sale and purchase agreements (SPAs).Anadarko said two related attacks occurred around 20km from the construction site on the road from Mocimboa da Praia to Afungi at about 5pm local time on 21 February. The first involved a convoy where six contractors sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

A number of investors remain interested in buying into generation companies (gencos) and distribution companies (discos) in Africa’s most populous country, but they face a daunting prospect, with President Muhammadu Buhari’s election promise to overhaul the dysfunctional electricity supply industry (ESI) still falling far short. Trends revealed by the African Energy Database show that, while installed capacity has increased in recent years, the availability of these plants has decreased to an average of 6,541.6MW in January-September 2016 and output declined to an average 3,054.6MWh/h – pitifully low for a country of over 174m people.

The World Bank signed partial risk guarantee (PRG) agreements on 24 August for the ground-breaking 450MW Azura-Edo scheme, whose successful close is expected to pave the way for further independent power projects (IPPs). Financial close is expected in the next few months.“This is a very important project for us, not as a deal but as a demonstration of how the Nigerian power sector needs to go forward. If you look at it, World Bank Group exposure to Azura-Edo is pretty significant.

Power, works and housing minister Babatunde Fashola, one of Nigeria’s two so-called super-ministers, has outlined a gradual and holistic approach to resolving the power crisis. Speaking in Lagos on 6 May, Fashola said the focus would be on thorough maintenance and rehabilitation of existing plants, improving the gas supply, and unlocking long-delayed projects. “We have resolved the framework for ultimately licensing over a dozen prospectors to generate over 1,000MW of solar energy,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Solid Minerals had been providing data on coal deposits for a possible coal power programme.

While the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has reported progress with plans to sell at least some of the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) gas-fired plants, opposition to the privatisation from state governments and other lobbies continues. Nigerian government sources have told African Energy the sales process has stalled with no immediate sign of a breakthrough.

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.

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.

Turkey – the largest market for gas in the region with almost no maritime territory of its own under international law – is pushing ahead with its own East Mediterranean exploration programme in defiance of its neighbours. Intractable as this disagreement has become, it is matched by a separate commercial problem. These abundant resources have become too expensive to justify exploitation under current conditions. The countries and companies that currently hold title to the gas will not only have to deal with Ankara but must also find ways of producing it much more cheaply to find a market.

Among Russia’s portfolio of interests in Africa – which include a large military sales business and nuclear development ambitions – state-owned entities such as Gazprom, Gazpromneft and Rosneft have built up hydrocarbons industry interests in markets around the continent, from Algeria in the north to Nigeria, and Angola and Mozambique south of the Sahara.  African Energy examines Russia's investments in Africa's upstream sector and its possible strategic objectives.

Scarcely a month passes without an announcement that another large-scale power project has passed a milestone towards commissioning or financial close. The government has harnessed multilateral support for its own schemes and taken important steps towards creating a more commercial environment, including the reduction of some subsidies and the introduction of legislation to restructure the sector.

Progress has been made towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 7 of providing universal energy access by 2030, with €108bn in funding in 2014-19, but international partners will need to do much more if the target is to be reached, according to a new Africa-EU Energy Partnership report by African Energy’s parent company CbI, writes David Slater