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Huge offshore gas reserves could make Tanzania a major new energy frontier, but the devil is in the detail for a government that distrusts international business, in a country where gas master plans and policy remain elusive, and domestic electricity and gas supply are in crisis, writes Jon Marks in Dar es Salaam.

The politics are complex and transport routes can be even more difficult than the governance, but European majors are increasingly drawn to Central African upstream plays, often working with Africa-based concerns. This is a response to the Great Lakes region’s exploration success, as well as to the growing volatility of the Maghreb and Middle East, write Thalia Griffiths and John Hamilton

An investigation by the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office into Saipem’s Algerian activities led to the 5 December resignations of chief executive Pietro Franco Tali and Eni chief financial officer Alessandro Bernini, and the suspension of Pietro Varone, chief operating officer of Saipem’s engineering & construction business unit.

Multi-faceted crises in the six Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale (Cemac) countries – Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Equatorial Guinea (EG), Gabon and Republic of Congo (RoC) – and their giant neighbour Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) make for uncomfortable reading. Acute political problems, and governance and financial shortfalls across the region provide one inescapable reason why the Inga dam and other plans for closer African integration fail to progress.

President Umara Musa Yar’Adua wants a stronger national industry – as he noted, opening CWC Associates’ Nigeria Oil & Gas Conference 2008 in Abuja on 19 February, “the provision of petroleum projects is dependent on expertise from other countries.”

Libya faces stern challenges in coming weeks and months, but despite political uncertainty, administrative chaos and sporadic outbreaks of militia infighting, the energy sector has managed to present a coherent programme for taking oil production beyond 2m b/d in two years’ time and nearly doubling gas production in a four-year period, writes John Hamilton, recently in Tripoli

The annual Africa Energy Forum (AEF) had something for all of its 2,000 delegates. It encouraged female entrepreneurs towards greater participation at all levels of the industry, heard the perennial calls for cost-reflective tariffs to help insolvent utilities balance their books and developers bring projects to fruition, and stimulated larger investors’ appetite for off-grid distributed solutions. The event, held in Copenhagen on 7-9 June, suggested chronic lack of access to sustainable energy could be overcome with the mobilisation of huge funding (much of which is available if conditions are right), innovative investment and technologies (both of which are emerging) and the enthusiastic participation of existing and new players.

The resignation of power minister Bart Nnaji in the middle of the privatisation process has caused considerable shock in Nigeria. Officially, he resigned over a conflict of interest, but there is considerable speculation over the forces that pushed him out.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his State of the Nation address on 7 February that “Eskom is in crisis and the risks it poses to South Africa are great”, a point emphasised when stage 4 load-shedding – meaning that more than 4GW was cut from the grid – was implemented a few days later. Ramaphosa said that unless a new business model was found for the utility, South Africa would face the same problem again and again.

Puntland pioneer Range Resources has taken exception to an article in Melbourne daily The Age that said ruling clans in the territory were linked to the recent upsurge in piracy, including the hijack of the Saudi Aramco-owned supertanker Sirius Star, carrying an estimated $100m worth of oil.

While the $2bn-plus ‘tuna bonds’ scandal rumbles on in international courts, Mozambique’s reputation has generally been boosted on President Filipe Nyusi’s watch. The authorities have coped relatively effectively with crises like Cyclone Idai and in ending armed conflict with Renamo, while the Rovuma Basin gas developments could transform the economy by the mid-2020s. An impressive upturn in internationally financed solar and other projects underlines Mozambique’s emergence as a hub in the global energy transition, aided by the hard work of committed local officials.

Canada’s Vanoil Energy said on 1 October it had launched international arbitration against the Kenyan government over its blocks 3A and 3B. Earlier this year, the government said it intended to allow Vanoil’s licence for the blocks on the Somali border to expire following the company’s failure to fulfil its drilling commitments. “Vanoil is seeking not less than $150m as full and proper restitution for its seven years of exploration and development,” the company said. Vanoil said in July that oil shows in the Sala-1 well in the Anza Graben announced by Africa Oil Corporation had potentially increased the value of its blocks.

As President Goodluck Jonathan puts the final touches to his long-awaited new cabinet, having returned staunch ally Diezani Alison-Madueke to the petroleum ministry, questions over sector reform and industry power remain. Following his re-election in April, President Goodluck Jonathan has opted for continuity rather than change in the composition of his new cabinet, with 13 ministers expected to return to their portfolios.

In a process delayed by political bickering and dramatic protests, the chosen candidate to take over as Libya’s new oil and gas minister is an environmentalist and senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood-supported JCP, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the former Qadhafi regime, writes John Hamilton

A recent trip abroad by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo sparked speculation among companies working in Equatorial Guinea that a coup was imminent. Rumours circulated of troop movements, which observers linked to the longstanding rivalry between energy and mines minister Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima and vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as Teodorín. However, in a 17 June interview, Obiang Lima told African Energy that his father had needed time off after the death of his half-brother Antonio Mba Nguema, minister of presidential security, in South Africa on 6 May.