Search results

Former president Rupiah Banda is on trial in Lusaka, having been stripped of his immunity, arrested and charged with abuse of office in connection with a Nigerian oil deal with the Abuja-based Sarb Energy. Banda’s son Henry has also been named in court documents. Sarb Energy was reported to have been paid $2.5m for shipping oil to Zambia, but failed to deliver.

Critics abroad and poorer Angolans may question where billions of dollars of oil revenues have gone in past decades, but the ruling Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) prefers to trumpet its successes in the run-up to parliamentary elections on 23 August that will surely consecrate defence minister João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço as successor to President José Eduardo dos Santos. The government, forced to cut spending and borrow heavily as oil prices slumped to levels far below its budget calculations, is telling voters a better future beckons, with the announcement of progress on a string of new large hydroelectric power schemes (HEPs) and other infrastructure.

The long-awaited trial of senior officials implicated in three alleged corruption scandals involving state energy giant Sonatrach opened on 15 March, but ground to a halt the same day. The defence withdrew from proceedings following wrangling over procedures, inefficiencies (such as the Italian translator failing to show), protests that only 22 of the 60 witnesses requested had been called to the court, and concerns over the long detention of a number of prominent defendants. Even before the latest postponement, a generally sceptical press argued that key witnesses were missing, headed by former energy and mines minister Chakib Khelil, who is living in the US (where he holds a green card but not a passport).

Sable Mining is to cancel its AIM listing and take the company private after a series of factors including the lower iron ore price and a Global Witness investigation depressed its share price. The cancellation takes effect from 17 October.Sable’s main asset is the Nimba iron ore project in south-east Guinea. Sentiment has been affected by political instability in Guinea, the Ebola epidemic and low iron ore prices, as well as what Sable described as “unpredictability of legal systems together with unsubstantiated and irresponsible allegations and adverse press speculation”.

Malawi’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has launched an investigation into whether money irregularly changed hands during the signing of production-sharing agreements with Rakgas on blocks 4 and 5 eight days before the 2014 elections. The probe was requested by Malawian civil society organisations and by Oxfam, which published a report in January titled Malawi’s Troubled Oil Sector: Licenses, Contracts and their Implications.

Mozambique has emerged from an election year with a record of improving the regulatory environment for its oil and gas sector. President Armando Guebuza’s outgoing government – to be replaced by a probably similar Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) administration led by Filipe Nyusi – has passed several key items of legislation, geared towards encouraging Eni and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation to reach their final investment decisions in 2016. In August, passage of a new Petroleum Law, to replace 2001 legislation, brought increased clarity and coherence to the sector, while in October, the state Instituto Nacional de Petróleo offered 15 blocks to interested investors.

The trial of those accused in the ‘cashgate’ corruption affair started in late January with the first three of 70 defendants appearing in court. Some $100m was allegedly stolen from government funds, leading to the suspension of aid to Malawi by several donors. In October, President Joyce Banda sacked and replaced her cabinet. The first defendants, Caroline Savala, Agnes Katengeza and Leonard Kalonga, were charged with theft and money laundering for receiving payment from the government for services that their construction company did not provide.

US developer Endeavor Energy has gone public in its dispute with Starenergie 2073 over the local partner’s decision to drop it from the 372MW Songon gas-to-power project, and sign up a Chinese contractor to develop the scheme. How the stand-off might be resolved is not yet clear, but legal action is likely. Its statement, issued on 3 October, said: “Endeavor is fully committed to enforcing its rights under the JDA and will seek redress against Starenergie and anyone tortuously interfering with its contractual rights.”

The AAA-rated African Development Bank (AfDB) is the continent’s biggest financial institution, with a well-defined role that is growing as it leverages its capital and know-how to support essential public and private sector projects and support economies mired in the coronavirus pandemic. The re-election of AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina is an important development that should end a period of corrosive doubt about the bank’s governance, while promoting the bank’s multiple positive roles.

Oslo-listed PetroNor has reached an out-of-court settlement with the government of Gambia on its dispute over the licences for blocks A1 and A4. African Petroleum, which merged with PetroNor in 2019, filed an arbitration case at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes after the government cancelled the licences and awarded A1, which lies immediately to the south of Cairn Energy’s SNE and Fan discoveries offshore Senegal, to BP.

Ghana’s Ministry of Finance announced in late September that Cenit Energy Ltd has agreed new terms for its 126MW dual fuel power plant. The government has been attempting to drive down the cost of power by renegotiating power purchase agreements (PPAs) with IPPs. After fact-finding consultations earlier in the year, talks with operating or near-operating IPPs have moved on to more substantive negotiations, and Cenit is the first to reach agreement.

A long-awaited power sector cost of service study being carried out by UK-based Energy Market and Regulatory Consultants (EMRC) will not now be completed until 2021. Energy permanent secretary Trevor Kaunda said the government was hopeful the study, which had been promised for year-end, would be completed next year and would help settle several disputes within the sector.

The Government of Ghana (GoG) is under fire as details emerge of a costly arbitral ruling over an emergency purchase agreement (EPA) signed with Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), which in 2015 procured two GE LM 6000 combined cycle power plants in Italy to supply 107MW at Aboadze.

President Macky Sall’s government has emerged from the immediate chaos of extensive rioting and is pointing to major gas, infrastructure and other developments as a way to restore growth and create jobs, but its calm outward face hides deep concerns over governance and social tensions in a country which has sucked in debt and equity on the basis of its stable reputation, write Waly Dione Faye and Jon Marks.

Politics runs through even the most technical questions in a Republic of South Africa (RSA) ruled for nearly three decades by the African National Congress (ANC). Power struggles and influence-broking within the party have a direct impact on the implementation of policy. Along with data and project updates, African Energy’s new 160-page South Africa Power Report 2021/22 highlights the need for President Cyril Ramaphosa to implement reforms to the electricity supply industry (ESI) and other key sectors, in the face of opposition from deeply-rooted ideological and factional rivals.