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More evidence is expected from UK authorities and South African sources as part of the investigation into the use of the UK’s banking system by the Gupta brothers, Lord Hain of Neath – Peter Hain – told African Energy. Letters from Hain to the chancellor, Phillip Hammond, last month instigated investigations by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), National Crime Agency, and the Serious Fraud Office. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun investigating in the United States and evidence has been submitted to the European Union, although an investigation has not yet begun.

An investigation committee appointed by President Salva Kiir has recommended criminal proceedings against former cabinet affairs minister Deng Alor Kuol for an alleged ‘un-procedural’ transfer of $8m to Kenyan-based company Daffy Investment Group. Alor Kuol was suspended from the government in June, along with former finance minister Kosti Manibe Ngai. Manibe Ngai has since been cleared of any criminal responsibility.

In August, a 600,000-barrel oil cargo for September lifting was awarded to China International United Petroleum & Chemicals (Unipec). But, according to an oil industry source, Unipec was invoiced to pay not the government of South Sudan, but Chinese arms manufacturer China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco). This arrangement has not been made before, but there is precedent for a direct contract award by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mines to Norinco: in August 2013, the government sold a 600,000-barrel oil contract to the company.

Global Witness has called on Italy’s Eni to explain incoming chief executive Claudio Descalzi’s apparent personal involvement in a corrupt oil deal in Nigeria. Descalzi is credited with heading Eni’s E&P division when it discovered huge gas resources offshore Mozambique, and will replace Paolo Scaroni, who has had three terms as Eni’s head (AE 276/19). According to Global Witness, police investigations in Italy and the UK into how Nigeria’s OPL 245 was awarded to Eni and Shell show that Eni officials led by Descalzi were centrally involved in negotiations with former Nigerian oil minister Chief Dan Etete. Etete is believed to have been one of the deal’s main beneficiaries.

Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company began receiving power from the first 100MW unit of the 200MW Dema emergency power plant in mid July. Since the government began talks with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group last year, there has been a concerted push to improve the country’s woeful power situation. Alongside Dema, a 120MW emergency plant is planned for Mutare, tenders have been reissued for the refurbishment of the country’s moribund coal power plants, as well as a solar tender and a feed-in tariff for renewable energy independent power producers.

Forces in Cyrenaica opposed to the United Nations-imposed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli have provoked a definitive challenge to its authority by blockading oil exports from the only major terminal still working in Libya. The damaging financial consequences of this action will be felt across the whole country, and the total shutdown of production – possibly within days – will also cause immense technical problems. But for those behind the action, such concerns may now be secondary as they attempt to shift the balance of the conflict in favour of the east, while also preparing for a likely military confrontation in the central zone presently dominated by Islamic State (IS).

Democratic Republic of Congo catches the imagination of those who see its potential to drive Africa’s future through its mineral wealth, resourceful population and the Inga Falls hydroelectric resource. But grandiose visions tend to founder on rocky realities in this vast, extravagantly diverse country, where power politics and the global commodities price crash – which in early May forced the government to cut 2016 spending by some 22% – have deeply unsettled much of what remains of international business. In May, major investor Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Cobalt announced it was selling up.

The long-awaited sector regulator Autorité Nationale de Régulation de l’Electricité (ANRE) has finally held its first board meeting in Rabat, approving its working procedures and a strategic road map for 2021-25. Details have yet to be published.

The World Bank has announced debarments of India’s Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd and its regional subsidiaries and of China Electric Design and Research Institute (CEDRI). The bank said Kalpataru was sanctioned as a result of fraudulent practices when participating in the Southern African Power Market Project (SAPMP) in Democratic Republic of Congo, which rehabilitated and extended high-voltage power lines, and the Egypt Wind Power Development Project (EWPDP), which included developing transmission infrastructure.

A French court has dismissed an appeal by two French and four Ugandan NGOs seeking to challenge Total’s handling of the Tilenga development project. The case is the first to be brought under France’s 2017 Corporate Duty of Vigilance law, and the NGOs hope to establish a precedent with wider implications for Total and other international companies.

President Kenyatta has set up a taskforce to review the PPAs signed by monopoly distributor Kenya Power and electricity producers, in a fresh bid to renegotiate terms in favour of the struggling state-owned utility, reports Neville Otuki in Nairobi.

The High Court of Zambia has dismissed a government attempt to prevent the enforcement of a 26 February court ruling which had quashed  energy minister Matthew Nkhuwa’s move to declare Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) as network common carrier. This latest stage in a protracted contractual dispute involving CEC, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and state utility Zesco means CEC can, in theory, try to recover outstanding debt from KCM.

National Oil Corporation (NOC) successfully used a temporary declaration of force majeure at the Marsa el-Hariga export terminal to secure payment of budget arrears from the Government of National Unity (GNU). The suspension of exports for just over a week was an indication of the scratchy relationship between NOC and the new Ministry of Oil and Gas, with each side yet to test the limits of its role in the new administration.

The World Bank Group’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) said on 31 May that a case brought by Symbion Power Tanzania Ltd (SPTL) and its owners Lord Richard Westbury and Paul Hinks against the Tanzanian government had been dropped. The end of the arbitration, which was registered on 31 May 2019, is another indication that the Tanzanian government is moving to settle high-profile disputes with international companies.

Zambia’s incoming administration is well aware of the urgent need to address the dire financial position of the vertically integrated state utility Zesco. The restructuring of Zesco to improve the utility’s operations, and increase its autonomy and efficiency to ensure long-term financial sustainability was high on the United Party for National Development (UPND)’s campaign agenda.