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Energy investors are pushing for Tanzania’s President John Magufuli to deliver on his promise to back competitive energy projects in his second term. Renewable energy plants in particular have potential to move forward if the government is willing to compromise, writes Dan Marks.

Sonatrach has settled its dispute with Spain’s Naturgy Energy Group by agreeing to revise their gas contracts while avoiding the arbitration proceedings threatened by Algeria. The Spanish utility initiated negotiations in May, and three separate contracts were renegotiated in a review of pricing, volume and duration provisions, the two companies said on 7 October. The contracts were signed by Naturgy executive chairman Francisco Reynes and Sonatrach president director- general Toufik Hakkar, during a visit to Algiers by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez.

Maamba Collieries Limited (MCL) has launched arbitration proceedings against Zambian state power utility Zesco in London’s High Court seeking payment of $350m of arrears. MCL, majority-owned by India’s Nava Bharat Ventures, says it may be forced to shut its 300MW coal-fired power plant as mounting debt and pressure from lenders pose a serious threat to the viability of its operations.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) and British Virgin Islands-listed Process & Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) presented their cases at the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court in London, United Kingdom, on 13-14 July in the latest milestone of their long-running dispute. Nigeria is challenging an arbitration ruling against it, now worth nearly $10bn, over P&ID’s claim that the government’s failure to meet its obligations caused its gas-processing project to fail.

The management of National Oil Corporation (NOC) based in the eastern Libyan town of Al-Bayda has suspended its attempts to sell oil independently from the established NOC management in Tripoli since the United Nations (UN)-backed Presidency Council led by Faiz Serraj moved to the capital. But the legitimacy of what the UN and its backers say is now the recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) is far from established. The dominant power brokers in Cyrenaica are still negotiating the terms of their endorsement of the new administration. Without their support it will be constitutionally weak, and failure to agree will start a new conflict over control of Sirte Basin oil infrastructure.

One region seems above all others to stubbornly buck the positive political and economic trends recorded over two decades by African Energy: it comprises the six Communauté Economique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale (Cemac) countries and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Events in the last month, including a failed coup in Gabon and contested elections in DRC, underline Central Africa’s chronic crisis of leadership. Such political behaviours are increasingly seen as an anachronism in a world structured by social media, as well as by older social bonds and traditional patterns of coercion by elites.

President Paul Biya, who has celebrated his 90th birthday and will soon have completed 41 years in power, takes a hands-off approach to presiding over Cameroon, whose domestic divisions continue to fuel regional conflicts while international supporters help to underpin the economy, writes Paul Melly.

The race to develop the 1.5GW Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric project has come down to two international bids, with the winner expected to make an equity investment of up to $700m in one of southern Africa’s most important power projects.

The International Monetary Fund has trimmed its economic growth expectations for sub-Saharan Africa in its latest World Economic Outlook to 3.6% for 2023. Low-income countries are expected to outperform most of their richer neighbours, but some analysts have warned the IMF is being overly optimistic.

Namcor’s glitzy headquarters are an indication of its growing influence, following major offshore finds, but there are also signs of an increasingly bitter power struggle, with the suspension of the national oil company’s managing director and the arrest of its chair, writes Our Namibia Correspondent.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been sworn in for a second five-year term after an election widely condemned as flawed. The fallout could stifle efforts to put the economy back on track and undermine his plans to reengage with the world, writes Nicholas Makombe.

Lundin Oil chairman Adolf Lundin has said he would welcome a formal inquiry by the Swedish government into his company’s operations in Sudan following a critical new report by Christian Aid reviving the controversy over the role of foreign oil companies in funding the government’s war against southern rebels.

Reports of a surprise deal by the government to acquire Petronas’s oil and gas portfolio in partnership with a little-known American outfit have reinforced concerns about South Sudan’s governance. Juba has backtracked on its initial claims about a $3bn oil and infrastructure deal that would have replaced the previously announced Petronas-Savannah deal, but investors are likely to be ever more nervous, writes James Gavin.

Ghana’s improving economic indicators have provided some much-needed relief for the embattled New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, which is now at the tail-end of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s constitutionally allowed two terms.

Macky Sall has installed trusted ally Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome as oil and energy minister in a move said to be designed to extend outgoing president’s influence over the sector even after he leaves office, writes Waly Dione Faye.