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Afren says it has passed information to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) after an investigation uncovered new concerns over expenses payments. In a statement released late on Friday 20 March, Afren said reporting the concerns was a condition for the provision of interim funding from bondholders to keep the indebted company afloat. The concerns arise from an investigation by Willkie, Farr & Gallagher (WFG) regarding the hire of an individual in 2012, and the payment of travel and accommodation expenses connected to Afren’s activities, the company said.

Tullow Oil has announced that it plans to report payments for individual projects, not just on a country by country basis. “Tullow took an industry leading position in 2012 by declaring all of our payments to government and in 2013 when we bring out, we’re going to enhance that disclosure further by reporting on a project by project basis,” Tullow chairman Simon Thompson told a discussion entitled East Africa’s Oil and Gas Boom: Promise and Peril, organised by the Brookings Institution and Oxfam America on 20 February.

Liberia has enacted the new Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Law, which requires competitive bidding for all petroleum contracts, and that all oil companies declare their true owners. The interim management team (IMT) of the National Oil Company of Liberia (Nocal) has welcomed the new law, describing it as “a milestone achievement for the country’s emerging oil & gas sector”.

The World Bank Group announced on 25 July that it had suspended disbursements of funding to the Inga-3 Basse Chute and Mid-Size Hydropower Development Technical Assistance (TA) Project. “This follows the government of DRC’s decision to take the project in a different strategic direction to that agreed between the World Bank and the government in 2014,” the bank said. The decision follows the announcement of a new timetable for bidding on the scheme ordered by President Joseph Kabila Kabange.

TheWorld Bank on 6 May announced the 20-month debarment of China-based Liaoning-EFACEC Electrical Equipment Company Limited (LEEEC) in connection with fraudulent practices as part of the Lusaka Transmission and Distribution Rehabilitation Project. The announcement came a week after the African Development Bank (AfDB) announced a similar move against Sinotec Company. The World Bank said LEEEC had failed to disclose a conflict of interest and misrepresented its past experience to meet the requirements of a contract under the project.

Globeleq chief financial officer and chief operating officer Mike Scholey will take over as chief executive from 1 January, replacing Paul Hanrahan. “We are very excited to have Mike taking up the CEO position in 2020. We believe his well-established relationships with key stakeholders, combined with his business insights and current experience working closely with the outgoing chief executive, Paul Hanrahan, make him the best candidate for the role. Mike and Paul will continue to work together in transitioning the company’s leadership through to the end of the year,” said Globeleq board chairman Laurence Mulliez.

The latest round of intrigue in South Africa has seen the influential energy ministry deputy director-general Ompi Aphane suspended for unstated issues related to compliance. In an interview with EE Publishers investigative editor Chris Yelland, energy minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said that Aphane had been given three days to respond to questions but failed to meet the deadline.

The Central Energy Fund on 18 October replaced almost the entire PetroSA board, naming former National Union of Mineworkers general secretary Frans Baleni as chair, Business Day reported. The only board member remaining from the previous line-up is Mthozami Xiphu, executive chair of the South African Oil and Gas Alliance and former chief executive of the Petroleum Agency of South Africa.Baleni had served on the previous board, whose members were instructed in April 2017 to resign or explain to the annual general meeting why they should stay.

Amid the feelgood talk about cleaner, more efficient fuels during the mid-January Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the presence of criminality and dirty money in energy industries worldwide was highlighted by the launch of a report from US think tank the Atlantic Council. In Downstream Oil Theft: Global Modalities, Trends, and Remedies, consultant Ian Ralby argues that, despite its undoubted impact, “the global scourge of illicit downstream hydrocarbons activity remains relatively invisible” – and much more is needed to tackle this particular oil curse.

Japan’s Hitachi Ltd on 28 September agreed to pay $19m to settle charges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by inaccurately recording improper payments to South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) in relation to the award of the combined $5.6bn boiler contracts for the 4,764MW Medupi and 4,800MW Kusile coal power plants.The revelations included in the SEC complaint have led to calls for legal action to be taken against South African group of companies Chancellor House and the ANC, as well as increased scrutiny of the controversial nuclear tender and Chancellor House’s involvement in the upcoming coal baseload independent power producer (IPP) procurement programme.

A former consultant with US pipeline contractor Willbros International has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to pay some $6m in bribes to Nigerian officials. The consultant, Paul Novak, was also managing director of Addax Nigeria before it was sold to Sinopec.

Beny Steinmetz has been placed under house arrest in Israel amid an investigation into his BSG Resources’ acquisition of rights to the Simandou iron ore mining project.Israeli police detained Steinmetz on suspicion of bribery and money laundering. A court on 19 December released him to house arrest for two weeks on bail of 100m shekels ($26m). His Israeli and French passports were confiscated and he was barred from leaving Israel for 180 days.

South Sudan’s oil income has been slashed by lower output, falling global prices, and an increasing production share taken by the government’s upstream joint venture partners. The treasury has fallen behind with payments due to Sudan for the use of its export infrastructure and is paying its debt by diverting greater quantities of oil to its neighbour. In 20 months the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced 4.6m people, and reduced oil production by up to a third and the burden of the war effort is exerting further pressure on the treasury, which is consistently overspending its military budget.

Algeria’s compliance with the Covid-19 lockdown was sharply illustrated when on 20 March the Hirak opposition movement did not march against the government for the first Friday since 22 February 2019. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on 17 March announced a ban on public gatherings, including an end to prayers in mosques as well as mass demonstrations.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched an investigation into payments made to Sonangol by Cobalt International Energy for a research centre that has yet to materialise. In its 10-K annual filing on 14 March, Cobalt said that, on 13 March, the SEC had informed the company by telephone that it had initiated an informal inquiry related to the Sonangol Research and Technology Centre. Payments for the centre were a condition of a production-sharing contract signed by Cobalt and BP in December 2011.