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President Muhammadu Buhari on 26 June dissolved the ten-member board of directors of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) headed by outgoing petroleum minister Alison Diezani-Madueke. NNPC has long been accused of large-scale corruption, and former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi said in late 2013 that $20bn of oil money had disappeared from its funds. An independent audit ordered by the government in 2014 found only a $1.48bn shortfall, though auditors PwC said they had not had access to the full accounts. Buhari has promised to shed further light on the issue.

The emergence of a renewables programme is among the elements of the new strategy sketched out in recent weeks by energy and mines minister Youcef Yousfi

Hela Cheikhrouhou has been appointed energy minister in new Prime Minister Youssef Chahed’s unity government, bringing a prominent international financial professional into a key role. Chahed is supported by President Béji Caïd Essebsi, and his administration has brought together key factions with the support of the other leading player in contemporary Tunisian politics, Hizb Ennahda leader Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi. The 40-year-old premier won a parliamentary vote of confidence on 26 August and will try – again – to accelerate the process of economic and social reform.

Edinburgh-based Savannah Petroleum signed a production-sharing contract (PSC) with the government on 4 July for the R1/ R2 licence area. The signing ceremony in Niamey was attended by UK Conservative MP Stephen O’Brien, a former international development minister described by Savannah as “a former industrialist who has a personal interest in Niger and Africa”. O’Brien was born in the southern Tanzanian port of Mtwara.

The Cyrenaica-based government of Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni is continuing efforts to establish its own oil sales in the international market, and to prevent buyers from engaging with the Tripoli-based management of National Oil Corporation (NOC). However, despite optimistic claims in early November that the eastern NOC had succeeded in closing a sale, and that a tanker to lift the crude was two days’ sailing from the Marsa Al-Harigah terminal, it has so far failed to overcome resistance from the international community and internal political barriers to achieving this ambition.

The Government of Southern Sudan will not compromise in negotiations with the north over the status of Abyei, and is prepared to take up arms again if the impasse continues

The issues that African Energy covers have risen much higher up the global agenda than seemed likely when the first issue was published in April 1998, when global concern about sub-Saharan Africa’s struggle to provide electricity to hard-pressed populations and industrial users, and the continent’s potential to provide energy to a fast-changing global economy driven by growth in emerging markets, seemed considerably less than now.

The legacy of colonialism may continue to shape contemporary Africa, but policymakers must also grapple with more recent follies as they struggle to address the legal and financial ramifications of decades of poorly structured and inadequately implemented infrastructure development. Many of the inconsistencies and contradictions that dog Africa’s power sector stem from reactive policymaking geared towards managing the fallout from previous poor decisions, as well as ensuring alignment with the short-term interests of political players.

Ghana’s transformation into an oil producer has been an uneven, sometimes politicised process. But efforts to get legislation and new institutions in place, and to normalise relations with IOC partners, are creating a more sustainable environment for all stakeholders

Speculation is growing that the political order has changed in important ways in recent weeks, during which ailing President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has remained in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment amid growing concern that a dangerous power vacuum is growing. Most analysts still believe Yar’Adua will hold on to his job for as long as he lives

While there is still much more exploration work to be done, Kenya’s discovery of oil is important for more than just national pride. The find, announced in April by Block 10BB operator Tullow Oil, is a significant stabilising factor for regional development as it enables the East African Community (EAC)’s main economic and political power to take a seat at the table alongside its hitherto luckier neighbours.

Any administration would be hard-pressed to cope with Cyclone Idai. For central Mozambique, southern Malawi and eastern Zimbabwe, the catastrophe is piled onto already often poorly served communities and underperforming governments. Even after the most severe storm hit on 14-15 March, news outlets and the donor community took time to appreciate the scale of the disaster – as mosque killings, Brexit and Donald Trump jostled for airtime that might have helped generate more immediate support.

In comments underlining the gulf that still appears to exist between the government and its IOC partners, President Yoweri Museveni has played down the significance of oil to Uganda’s economic development, saying agriculture and industrial development were key to the country’s future and he had only agreed to an export pipeline to help out Tanzania. On 28 May, Tullow Oil said that CNOOC had opted not to exercise its pre-emption right on the sale of Tullow’s stake to Total, and a binding tax agreement with the government could now be progressed.

The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has engaged UK-based firm Energy Market and Regulatory Consultants (EMRC) to conduct a new power sector cost of service study. Work is expected to be completed by December 2020, but the government intends to raise power tariffs without waiting for its conclusions in order to keep Zesco operating as its costs mount.

The disputed territories of Sool and eastern Sanag, between the neighbouring breakaway Republic of Somaliland and Republic of Puntland, have so far proved a major obstacle in Somaliland’s quest for independence (AE 146/15, 136/15, 135/24). Both sides lay claim to a territory believed to be resource-rich and two clans, the Dhulbahante and Warsengeli, have said they are not served adequately by either de facto government.