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As presidential and congressional elections approach in Brazil, observers say the potential for a change in leadership is raising the possibility of a return by Brazilian industrial giants to Africa after a difficult period of governance crises and restructuring.

An early September judgement confirming the Eastern Cape High Court’s rejection of Shell’s attempt to conduct seismic surveys along South Africa’s eastern coast will leave the government – and oil companies – with plenty of food for thought, as South Africa and many other countries look to produce more hydrocarbons in sensitive environments, James Gavin writes.

Energy and power development minister Zhemu Soda has removed the board of directors of state petroleum company PetroTrade for alleged malpractice, including recruiting senior staff without following company procedures.

Mali’s economy and finance minister Aloussény Sanou has told other government departments their expected funding has been blocked. The move comes after the World Bank suspended its International Development Association (IDA) credits and other facilities to the country.

Nigerian politicians’ focus in the year ahead will be on the 2019 elections and the chances of President Muhammadu Buhari serving a second term. Buhari seems to have returned home from medical treatment in London last August reinvigorated to an extent many doubters thought impossible, but if politics is a results business – rather than merely a question of the volume of resources at power-brokers’ disposal – the president and his All Progressives Congress (APC) have much to do.

After years of futile exploration, President Muhammadu Buhari has announced the discovery of oil in Bauchi and Gombe states in north-eastern Nigeria, just as his administration enters its final period in office. However, there is considerable scepticism about an announcement that could allow fragile northern states to tap into additional federal funding, writes Adaora Elemide in Abuja.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved a regulatory clearing account (RCA) balance for Eskom of R13.27bn ($763m).The RCA is a mechanism for recouping prudently incurred costs that were not foreseen in previous tariff determinations, as well as making adjustments where assumptions such as inflation and tariff income have varied. The balance will be recouped from standard tariff customers, special pricing arrangement customers and international customers. Eskom and Nersa have frequently found themselves at odds over the RCA as well as tariff determinations.

Too often ignored except in times of extreme crisis, Lesotho is looking to emerge from years of political instability and economic malaise under previous coalition governments, as the Basotho population counts on newly-elected tycoon Prime Minister Sam Matekane to usher in transformative change.

The reshuffle and apparent downgrade of oil minister Gabriel Obiang Lima has brought a close aide of President Teodoro Obiang, former national company GEPetrol head Antonio Oburu Ondo, into the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons. The controversial new minister is also close to Obiang’s favoured son Teodorin, who is ever more strongly placed to eventually replace the octogenarian president in Equatorial Guinea’s most critical succession battle.

Seplat Energy’s $1.6bn acquisition of ExxonMobil’s Nigerian shallow-water assets faces the very real prospect of being blocked after Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) won a court decision temporarily blocking the US major from selling its Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited assets to the ambitious London- and NGX-listed independent

The parastatal Central Electricity Board (CEB) issued two tenders on 18 March, requesting bidders for a total 140MW of solar PV and storage and 40MW of small renewable energy (RE) hybrid projects. The tenders come less than a month after CEB renewable energy and strategic projects manager Chavan Dabeedin was arrested on a charge of bribery of a public official in relation to the ‘Saint Louisgate’ scandal.

Texas-based Schlumberger Rod Lift (SRL) has agreed to pay a $160,000 fine to the US authorities to settle a 2015-16 violation of US sanctions against Sudan; the sanctions were lifted in October 2017.

Reports that Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) head Mustapha Bakkoury has fallen from grace and is under investigation for alleged management abuses have underlined the perception that the kingdom’s ambitious renewable energy (RE) programme is in trouble, confronted by delays, cost over-runs and high prices for electricity generated by the agency’s ground-breaking Noor Ouarzazate scheme.

A new International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement to underpin a faltering economy is becoming more likely as terms are hammered out by a government terrified of being seen to be caving in to the demands of perceived powerful foreign influences and an international community keen not to be seen dictating to a government that emerged from the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’ revolts as a rare functioning democracy.

Chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organisations, Democrat senator Karen Bass, and Republican ranking member Christopher Smith last month introduced a resolution to the House of Representatives (HoR) calling for free and fair elections in Tanzania. If passed, the resolution would give the US administration the legal basis to impose economic and other sanctions on the country.