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Updated forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show global expansion weakening with the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) growing by an estimated 3.7% in 2018, and forecast at 3.5% in 2019 and 3.6% in 2020. The projections are downward revisions from October’s World Economic Outlook (WEO), in part reflecting the trade war between the United States and China. A tightening of the Chinese economy may be reflected in Beijing’s reappraisal of lending to sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite the fragile security situation, northern Mali is still attracting exploration interest, but companies active in the region face a new challenge from a resurgent Tuareg rebellion

Pressure from Democratic Party Senator Frank Lautenberg and other congressmen on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to open an investigation into BP 's role in lobbying for the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi has added

State utility Société Nationale d’Electricité (Sonabel) has appointed a new director-general, Jean Christophe Ilboudo, who replaces Apollinaire Siengui Ki. The weekly L’Economiste du Faso reported that Ilboudo was a management specialist who had been working within government at permanent secretary level and is also an adviser to the mayor of Ouagadougou.

Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidential Action Committee on Power (PACP) must produce a workable blueprint for the sector before end-May, the acting president told journalists on 21 April. Jonathan has retained the electricity portfolio in his new cabinet, working with minister of state Nuhu Somo Wya in another effort to overcome crippling power problems, which, according to Jonathan, have left Nigeria in a state of “semi-emergency”. Again, the government is focusing on reform within a solid regulatory framework as the key to stable power supplies.

Energy and petroleum minister Davis Chirchir has announced ambitious plans to add more than 5,000MW to Kenya’s generation capacity over 40 months, boosting output from 1,644MW to more than 6,700MW by the end of 2016. But some commentators have questioned the prudence of adding so much generation capacity so quickly, arguing that demand should come before supply and suggesting that Kenya may end up with a wasteful electricity surplus. Speaking at the 2013 East Africa Power Industry Convention (Eapic) held in Nairobi on 10-11 September, former Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Hindpal Singh Jabbal likened the challenge to creating six new Nairobis, in terms of demand.

Mining ministers from 11 central African states have endorsed a system for tracing the origins of raw materials drawn up by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

President João Lourenço appointed new boards of directors on 19 May for Empresa Pública de Produção de Electricidade (Prodel) and Empresa Nacional de Distribuição de Electricidade (Ende). A presidential statement said the changes were for operational reasons but observers linked them to longstanding financial and operating problems at the parastatals, which were established in 2014 along with transmission company Rede Nacional de Transporte de Electricidade (RNT), following the unbundling of Empresa Nacional de Electricidade.

Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has submitted to the senate his first 33 nominations to fill government ministries a week after sacking the cabinet in a bold move to stamp his authority on government.

Ethnic clashes in the Nzérékoré region in mid-July that left at least 58 people dead and 160 injured have somewhat overshadowed recent protests against the lack of power. In a speech to the nation in January 2013, President Alpha Condé promised to roll out an emergency plan to improve supply to the capital by the middle of the year. The aim was to increase thermal capacity to improve supply until planned hydro projects come on stream. When Condé came to power in December 2010, Guinea had available capacity of only around 80MW. Efforts to add 100MW of short-term thermal capacity and another 240MW of new hydro have not gone smoothly, but reliable power supply will be critical if Guinea is to realise plans to develop the economy by exploiting the country’s mineral wealth.

In some rare good news for the giant South African utility, Eskom has announced that the 794MW unit IV of its giant 4,764MW Medupi coal power plant began commercial operations on 28 November. The unit came online well ahead of the much-delayed project’s revised timeline, which had anticipated that it would start operations in July 2018. Units VI and V came online on 23 August 2015 and 3 April 2017 respectively, meaning that half of the plant is now up and running.

Fresh details of the machinations surrounding the sale of Heritage’s Ugandan oil acreage have emerged in the latest batch of WikiLeaks releases, writes Adrian J Browne.

With potentially difficult elections beckoning as African Energy went to press, progress on an impressive roster of potential hydroelectric projects remains subject to Guinea’s volatile politics

Controversy is growing over the award by President Joseph Kabila of an oil exploration permit in the Virunga National Park, home to some of the world’s last few mountain gorillas. But while international organisations are urging the government to protect the park, MPs from North Kivu want exploration to go ahead in the hope of bringing development cash to the region.

While African exploration had been recovering from the last slump, 2020 could see no more than six or seven high-impact exploration wells drilled continent-wide. Tullow Oil has declared force majeure on its development in Kenya and Kosmos Energy has tweaked its exploration strategy to reduce risk and costs. In Namibia, the Venus well has been put off to later in the year, while BW Energy has written down the full value of the much-postponed Kudu development. Vantage Drilling has seen itsTopaz Driller rig terminated early by Vaalco Energy in Gabon, while Eni has declared force majeure on its contract for the Sapphire Driller in Republic of Congo.