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A deal between Abu Dhabi giant Adnoc and UK major BP to coinvest in Egyptian gas assets highlights how wealthy Gulf national oil companies are actively seeking potentially highly lucrative lower-carbon expansion opportunities across Africa, where NOCs from Qatar and Kuwait are among those also exploring opportunities, writes James Gavin.

Swedfund International (Swedfund) and the European Union (EU) have offered finance to carry out environmental and technical feasibility studies for the Malawi-Zambia interconnector, a 330/400kV cross-border transmission line that spans about 184km between Zambia and Malawi.

The start of arrears payments by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has brought some respite to independent power producers’ balance sheets. Although Ghana’s economic recovery still hinges on the conclusion of an IMF programme and wider debt restructuring, private investors have been able to win better terms for their power projects – which is important, as more capacity will be needed to meet rising demand.

The recent approval of plans to set up a Mozambique Sovereign Fund (Fundo Soberano de Moçambique or FSM) by President Filipe Nyusi’s cabinet adds to the growing number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) across the continent. The move has been lauded by the International Monetary Fund’s Public Financial Management Blog, which examined the fund's structure and role.

Making the most of hydrocarbon resources and tackling perceived governance abuses are among the hot dossiers at the top of incoming President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko’s agenda. Policy-makers and investors need to be acutely aware that Senegal is waiting on radical change from its new Pastef government, write Waly Dione Faye and Jon Marks.

The African Development Bank announced on 20 December that its board had approved a $50m senior loan to Azito Energie for the 139MW expansion of the Azito gas-fired power plant. The loan will contribute to financing the Azito Phase III project.

A deepening economic crisis has forced the cancellation of this year’s Luanda International Fair (Filda), which had already been postponed from July to November. It will be the first cancellation in 33 years for the event, which was held throughout Angola’s civil war, which ended in 2002. The business weekly Expansão reported that the 33rd annual fair had been cancelled due to the “financial difficulties of the country”, which has been hard hit by a sharp fall in oil revenues.

A four-day hearing opened in London’s High Court on 21 November to decide whether the English courts can hear two legal claims on behalf of over 40,000 Nigerians against Royal Dutch Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria for environmental damage caused by oil pollution in the Niger Delta.The first claim is being brought on behalf of 2,335 individuals from the Bille Kingdom, mostly fishermen who claim their environment has been devastated by oil spills over the past five years.

The UK’s Independent Power Corporation Plc (IPC) has launched a new power development company, QG Power Africa, in a joint venture with its existing partner, engineering consultancy Tomé International, and the $250m QG Africa Mezzanine LP investment fund managed by Quantum Global Group’s QG Investments Africa Management. Established to develop power plants across sub-Saharan Africa, QG Power will focus initially on Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana. QG Africa Mezzanine will support the joint venture as strategic investor, while Swiss-based Tomé will be responsible for project management and IPC for the development of the power assets.

Aseng Production Company Ltd, a joint venture between SBM Offshore and state oil company GEPetrol, has secured a

The African Development Bank (AfDB) on 17 February issued an inaugural Swedish krona green bond, its second such transaction under the new Green Bond Framework after a $500m three-year bond launched in October 2013. The Swedish krona market is one of the largest for green investments and the bond, which raised around SEK1bn ($150m), is a five-year floating rate transaction maturing on 24 February 2019. The transaction was fully subscribed by SPP, a company wholly owned by Swedish life insurance and asset management company Storebrand. Nordea Markets was the sole lead manager.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) on 26 February approved a $30.47m grant and $43.9m loan for a project to reinforce and extend the electricity distribution network. The government will contribute $11.5m to the project, which aims to connect around 37,800 households to the grid, provide off-grid solar power to 60 communities and establish a reliable energy supply for 30 schools and 30 health centres, all by 2017. There will also be a substantial capacity-building element at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Renewable Energy Authority.

The federal government has negotiated a $15bn investment with India, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources said on 17 October, although terms have still to be agreed. A memorandum of understanding fleshing out the preliminary agreement, which was signed in India by visiting minister of state for petroleum Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and is expected to be finalised by year-end, involves the Indian government making an upfront payment to Nigeria for crude purchases. Kachikwu said the deal was feasible as crude production was expected to rise to 2.2m b/d – its Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) quota

While banks await mandates to raise a new mega-loan for state oil company Sonangol (AE 207/21), monetary authorities in Luanda are also considering coming to the market this year for Angola to issue its long-awaited debut Eurobond.

The Egyptian government is considering a number of options for the sale of three gas-fired power plants built by Siemens between 2015 and 2018 which together added 14.4GW to the grid. A sale may be negotiated bilaterally or via a more time-consuming competitive auction; options include the eventual floating of a minority stake on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. The newly formed Tharaa sovereign wealth fund is already playing a decision-making role and is likely to retain the state’s long-term interest in the plants.