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The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee has voted in favour of a draft law that would require European resource companies to declare their payments to governments worldwide.

Mining gold from the hillsides in north-east Guinea poses huge challenges for investors and the community alike, underlining the need to tackle a range of sensitive issues and manage expectations in long ignored regions of highly under-developed economies, writes Thalia Griffiths, recently in Lero.

The Libyan government’s decision to relocate the headquarters of National Oil Corporation (NOC) from Tripoli to Benghazi raises more questions than it answers. These include when and how the move will be made, what parts of the corporation will be relocated and what effect it will have on NOC’s still poorly defined relationship with the Ministry of Oil and Gas, and with its own joint ventures and subsidiaries. The move will also have political and security ramifications for international oil companies and service companies.

The board of the Extractive IndustriesTransparency Initiative (EITI) has agreed to lift Liberia’s temporary suspension with effect from 6 March. A statement said Liberia had shown improvement in implementation related to stakeholder oversight and the publication of outstanding EITI reports. Liberia was one of the first countries to implement the EITI, under former president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, but was suspended from the initiative in September 2018 due to reporting delays and the lack of a multi-stakeholder group to oversee the process.

Côte d’Ivoire has joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative; New PM as Conte’s circle consolidates.

Markets rallied to a narrative of growth and continuity as Jubilee Coalition candidate Uhuru Kenyatta was declared Kenya’s president, beating the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) candidate Raila Odinga by 832,887 votes and taking 50.07% of the total, which was sufficient for Kenya to avoid a second round of polling. Most reports focused on largely peaceful polls – in which ‘only’ a dozen or so people were reported killed in ‘isolated incidents’ – and the prospects for growth as Kenya emerges from its traditionally traumatic election period.

While commercial lenders and multilaterals fret about rising indebtedness and poor rates of return, African leaders are again seeking refuge in infrastructure mega-schemes they believe will pull the continent towards Chinese levels of growth. President John Pembe Magufuli of Tanzania and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, have launched an oil pipeline with an ambitious 2020 completion date, though details of the $3.5bn scheme’s financing remain elusive. The African Union Commission and partners continue to hype the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (Pida)’s transformative value, despite projects’ lack of real progress.

A World Heritage Committee meeting in Manama decided on 28 June to inscribe the Lake Turkana National Parks on the List of World Heritage in Danger, citing the impact of Ethiopia’s Gibe III dam on the site.The committee expressed concern about the changes affecting the hydrology of the Lake Turkana Basin, notably the disruptive effect of Gibe III on the flow and ecosystem of Lake Turkana, and Ethiopia’s huge Kuraz Sugar Development Project, which will include a significant irrigation element posing a further threat to water flows.

The current managers of Libya’s oil sector should not make hasty decisions about its structure, says former National Oil Corporation chairman D R Shukri Ghanem. Many of the debates about the creation of a ministry separate from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) had been going on for

Controversial former energy minister Chakib Khelil returned to Algeria on 17 March for the first time since his abrupt departure three years ago, pursued by allegations concerning his role in the Sonatrach corruption scandals (AE 317/17, 297/24). The path towards his rehabilitation was prepared by Front Nationale de Liberation leader Amar Saâdani, who is loyal to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika but not universally supported within his faction.

Cristina Dias was sworn in as São Tomé and Príncipe’s oil minister on 11 November, the fourth person to hold the position since June 2008 and the latest indication of political uncertainty in the island state – which has yet actually to find oil (AE 149/14).

President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has ratified Somalia’s long-awaited petroleum law, paving the way for licensing of exploration blocks. The law, which was approved by parliament in May 2019 includes a revenue-sharing agreement that provides for revenues from any eventual oil production to be distributed through the country’s federal states. It establishes the Somali National Oil Company as the state entity charged with participating in petroleum operations, as well as the Somali Petroleum Authority, which will act as a regulatory body overseeing oil and gas activity.

The Department of Energy has released the draft Integrated Energy Planning (IEP) report for public consultation “as part of a process to formulate an integrated energy plan, which will outline a recommended energy roadmap for South Africa and guide investment decisions”. A period of public discussion will follow, as different stakeholder groups try to hammer out consensus on a sustainable long-term trajectory for the country (the IEP looks towards 2050). The IEP – with the expected new Integrated Resource Plan – will encompass Eskom’s plans for more coal-fired capacity, and also consolidate the so far successful effort to install major renewables capacity; it should also push forward the debate over new gas and nuclear infrastructure.

The Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme will provide more water to South Africa (up to 45.5cm/s from 24.6cm/s) and another 1GW of hydroelectric power, according to an agreement in principle to develop the scheme’s estimated R12bn second phase. The power will not be for tomorrow: the project is scheduled for completion by August 2020. South Africa has said it will bear the full cost, underlining the importance it places in getting water to two major nodal development projects, at burgeoning mining centre Lephalale near Vryburg, and Steelpoort.

Dublin-based explorer Petroceltic International is suing two individuals and a Tunis-based law firm over service and consultancy agreements related to its North African activities signed in 2004 and 2005. According to the High Court of Ireland, Petroceltic Isarene – the Jersey-based subsidiary for the company’s Algeria assets – and another plaintiff opened a case on 4 July against Abdelly & Associés International Consultants, its founder Dr Samir Abdelly and a second defendant, Maza Seghir.