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In a sign of how tough market conditions still are, Ophir Energy is slashing London-based and expatriate jobs by 50% to save $10m-$12m/yr. Chief operating officer Bill Higgs will be stepping down from his role and will not be replaced. In a 12 July trading update, Ophir said H1 production was lower than expected at 11,300 boe/d, which was 1,200 boe/d below budget due to temporarily lower production from the Kerendan and Sinphuhorm gas fields in South-East Asia.

While much of the world was distracted by Donald Trump’s election in the US, Rio Tinto announced on 9 November that it had suspended energy and minerals head Alan Davies and accepted the resignation of legal and regulatory affairs executive Debra Valentine after discovering $10.5m in payments to a French adviser to Guinean President Alpha Condé.Rio said it had launched an investigation and alerted regulators after becoming aware on 29 August of emails from 2011 that referred to contractual payments to an unidentified consultant relating to its Simandou iron ore project.

As with numerous other policy areas, the incoming US administration has given out mixed messages about its commitment to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The situation will become clearer next year, when the US comes up for assessment. US Democratic senator Ben Cardin and Republican senator Dick Lugar, responsible for the Cardin-Lugar rule requiring companies to disclose payments which was repealed by President Donald Trump in February issued a joint statement on 20 May regretting the US decision to “effectively leave” the EITI.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced on 7 May that Chinese equipment manufacturer and engineering, procurement and construction contractor Chint Electric has been blacklisted for 36 months. During the period, Chint will be unable to bid, subcontract or provide services under any contract in which the AfDB is participating as a financier. The settlement reached with Chint will see the AfDB monitor progress in strengthening the company’s corporate compliance. The debarment period could be reduced to 24 months if conditions are met early.

Angola’s new president João Lourenço has sacked José Filomeno dos Santos as head of Angola’s sovereign wealth fund and set up a committee to manage the body. The sacking of José Filomeno, known as Zenú, the son of former president José Eduardo dos Santos, follows Lourenço’s removal on 15 November of Isabel dos Santos as head of the all-powerful national oil company Sonangol. Isabel’s sacking startled commentators who had thought Lourenço would keep everything much as president dos Santos had left it.

The US government has imposed licensing restrictions on South Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Mining, state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation (Nilepet) and 12 other oil-related organisations. The restrictions were issued on 21 March by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the US Department of Commerce “as part of the US effort to end the ongoing conflict and resolve the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan”, a statement said.

With chief executive Brian Molefe resigning under a cloud and in the wake of another credit downgrade by Standard and Poor’s (S&P), Eskom’s board has plumped for the continuity candidate by appointing head of generation Matshela Koko as interim boss. Always the most likely successor to Molefe, at least in the short term, Koko is an outspoken critic of renewable energy and a vocal supporter of nuclear power. He also played a role in the public protector report that resulted in Molefe’s resignation and was suspended along with three other executives in 2015.

The South African Wind Energy Association (Sawea) has made an official complaint to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) about Eskom. The utility has been refusing to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) with renewable energy independent power producers (IPPs) selected by the Department of Energy to develop projects, claiming that the projects do not represent value for money. Eskom head of generation Matshela Koko on 20 October told City Press that the Treasury should be funding the cost of renewable energy through the R200bn ($14.4bn) contingent liability it took on to guarantee the renewable energy IPP procurement programme (REIPPP), rather than the costs being passed on to consumers.

President José Eduardo dos Santos on 2 June appointed a new board of directors for state oil company Sonangol. The new team will be headed by his daughter Isabel, a businesswoman who led the commission that formulated proposals for Sonangol’s restructuring. The new board will implement the reforms recommended by the commission, outlined in two presidential decrees on 26 May.

The Tshisekedi government’s announcement that Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler’s Ventora Development would return control of its mining and oil assets to Democratic Republic of Congo puts assets back into play including the Albertine Graben blocks 1 and 2, managed by Gertler’s company Oil of DRCongo. But there are potential further complications from continued US sanctions against Gertler and over exactly what’s in the deal, writes François Misser.

Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (Eacc) is investigating a number of executives at Kenya Power and Lighting Company (Kenya Power) for alleged corruption.

 The Angolan government and General Electric have succeeded in having a court case against them dismissed by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, after a judge ruled the dispute should be heard in courts in Angola.

Alongside the change of energy minister in mid-September, President Samia Suhulu Hassan replaced the board and senior leadership of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco). The national utility’s new managing director Maharage Chande previously worked at MultiChoice Africa, which owns cable TV channel DStv, where he was Tanzania managing director and then regional managing director for East and West Africa.

Following a series of setbacks for the government this year in its attempt to declare CEC’s network common carrier, there had been hopes a negotiated settlement could be agreed. However, further legal action now looks a certainty, writes Chiwoyu Sinyangwe in Lusaka The Zambian government has made a fresh bid to seize control of Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC)’s transmission and distribution lines by issuing a new statutory instrument (SI) declaring the company’s network as common carrier.

The island’s ‘Saint Louis Gate’ power procurement scandal and other corruption enquiries, plus the government’s loss of a petroleum supply arbitration appeal, highlight the potential pitfalls of doing business in Africa’s most highly rated economy, writes Marc Howard.