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The Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP)’s 2020 Political Targets call on Africa and the EU to take joint action to improve energy security by doubling the capacity of cross-border electricity interconnections within Africa and with Europe, and doubling the use of natural gas in Africa and of African gas exports to Europe by building natural gas infrastructure, notably to bring currently flared gas to market. The Second Stakeholder Meeting’s energy security session, in Milan on 17 May, focused on electricity interconnections, where much is expected from projects that have dragged on. However, significant progress is expected in cross-border trading in the period to 2020, notably in East Africa.

The temporary closure by protesters of three oil terminals, which caused a fall in exports of 300,000 b/d over two days in early July, is likely to reoccur, according to European security and diplomatic sources

The multilateral created to pull former communist economies into the global market is gearing up to provide significant support for North Africa, but like other elements of the so-called Deauville Partnership, things are not moving as quickly as supporters of the ‘Arab Spring’ would like, writes Jon Marks

Tullow Oil said on 19 November it agreed to issue 224,955 ordinary shares to Petrolin Trading Limited to settle a $5m debt of its subsidiary, Tullow Gabon Limited. Tullow Gabon had agreed to pay Petrolin the amount in exchange for the termination of agreements giving Petrolin the right to market part of Tullow’s West Africa crude oil production.

The Center for Studies and Initiatives for the Development of Equatorial Guinea (CEID) has protested against an Interior Ministry resolution ordering that the NGO should be dissolved. The decision was dated 11 April but delivered on 3 July. The CEID said the authorities had delayed making the decision public to avoid unwelcome publicity while Malabo was pursuing its application to re-join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), hosting the African Development Bank annual meetings, receiving visits from delegations of the German parliament and Community of Lusophone Countries, and negotiating with the International Monetary Fund.

According to the latest lifting programme, published by the South Sudan Ministry of Petroleum in early December, a total of 4.6m barrels will be lifted from Port Sudan in January, equivalent to average production of 148,000 b/d. This compares favourably with the 4.4m barrels programmed for lifting in December (an average production of 142,000 b/d) and 4.2m barrels in November (an average of 140,000 b/d). The volume for lifting matches that of October, when it was also 4.6m barrels, or 148,000 b/d.

The Brazzaville government has received some reward for the closure in 2008 of Congolaise de Trading (Cotrade), the controversial marketing arm of parastatal Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) that was chaired by the president’s son, Denis-Christel Sassou Nguesso. Cotrade’s closure came after pressure from the International Monetary Fund and, on 28 January, the World Bank and IMF announced an agreement that will allow Republic of Congo to reduce its external debt by $1.9bn and benefit from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

Wide-ranging reform of Angola’s power sector is making progress, but with the economy heavily dependent on oil revenues, investment plans could be significantly slowed. Angola-watchers suggest the effects on the domestic economy of sharply lower global oil prices, coupled with the continued uncertainty over veteran President José Eduardo dos Santos’ succession plans, may create a ‘perfect storm’ that could hasten the long-awaited regime change.

After a period of doubt over its future following problems in conflict-hit markets, including Libya, and difficulties repaying debt, London Stock Exchange-listed APR Energy’s shareholders have accepted an investor consortium’s offer to acquire the emergency power provider. The group of Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings and US firms Acon Equity Management and Albright Capital Management plan to take Florida-based APR private; the buyers have committed $200m-plus equity to reduce debt and increase working capital.

French President François Hollande made a first visit to South Africa in mid-October, announcing a €4bn ($5.5bn) rail contract to be undertaken by Alstom with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and highlighting French investment in South Africa’s power sector.The president referred to “the agreement signed between GDF Suez and South Africa for thermal power stations to the tune of €1.6bn”, creating hopes of a new injection of capital to give Eskom some breathing space. But a GDF Suez spokesman said no new deals had been signed with the South African government. While “we do work quite closely with the French government, Hollande was adding up different projects (which are already under development),” he said.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States has doubled the size of its Nigerian bank facility to $1bn. Ex-Im Bank said the move met with a growing demand from Nigerian banks for medium- and longer-term financing.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved a regulatory clearing account (RCA) balance of R7.82bn ($734m) following an application by national utility Eskom. The ruling is likely to result in a tariff increase of 2-5% in 2015-16 on top of the 8% already approved. The RCA is a mechanism which allows Eskom to recoup unforeseen losses accrued during previous multi-year price determination (MYPD) periods due to discrepancies between tariff forecasts and the actual developments over the period.

Impact Oil & Gas Limited has secured $40m via an open offer at 20p/share. The proceeds will be used to fund Impact’s share of costs for Total’s Venus-1 well offshore Namibia later in H1, and black economic empowerment company Arostyle Investments’ share of costs for the drilling of the Luiperd-1 exploration well offshore South Africa in Q2. Impact’s funding of Arostyle, agreed in December 2018, gives it exposure to Block 11B/12B, where Total announced the Brulpadda discovery in 2019.

US developer Symbion Power Tanzania Ltd on 13 March filed a request for arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris claiming breach of contract due to non-payment by Tanzania Electricity Supply Corporation (Tanesco) for power from the 126MW Ubungo plant (AE 331/1). Symbion says Tanesco has refused to pay for its power since the contract was agreed, claiming variously that the power purchase agreement (PPA) had been “put on hold”, never been signed or, later, that it had been rescinded.

Global asset manager The Carlyle Group has closed its first private equity fund targeting sub-Saharan Africa at $698m, almost $200m above its initial target of $500m. “The success of the fundraising reflects investors’ appetite for the strong economic growth that the region has experienced over the last decade, as well as the prospects for future economic development across the continent,” said managing director and co-head of the Sub-Saharan Africa advisory team Marlon Chigwende.