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Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has agreed to pay out $84m to residents of the Bodo community for two of the Niger Delta’s largest oil spills, which took place in 2008 and 2009. Some $54m of the settlement will go to around 15,600 fisherman, while the remaining $30m will be left for the community. Outgoing SPDC managing director Mutiu Sunmonu said the company accepted responsibility for the spills, both of which SPDC admits were caused by operational failures of the pipelines.

New Sonangol chief executive Isabel dos Santos has suspended all talks relating to the sale of assets belonging to the Angolan state oil firm and stripped its legal department of most of its powers.A brief statement posted on Sonangol’s website following a 27 June meeting of the new board said the evaluation, negotiation and sale of any assets held by Sonangol and its subsidiaries had been suspended with immediate effect.

With further progress in its electricity privatisation, increased food production due to investment in agriculture, and capital markets responding favourably to banks and bonds, it is easy to be drawn into the bubble of optimism that has built up around the Nigerian economy and its prospects. Away from the conflict zones of the north and Niger Delta, real progress has been made, but for every bit of positive newsflow there is a reality check, such as a new report from the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) which examines illegal oil exports – a still little understood cog in the machine of money and power-broking that defines public life in Nigeria.

Total has defended itself against criticism of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, publishing its social and environmental studies and action plans and pledging transparency. In the latest attack on the project, 263 organisations from 49 countries have banded together to campaign against the planned export pipeline to carry Uganda’s crude oil to the Tanzanian coast.

The National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) has announced three block awards in the deep-water Namibe Basin from its 2019 bid round. ANPG said Sonangol was awarded 35% in Block 27, with the other 65% remaining open for negotiation by other interested companies. Eni was awarded operatorship of Block 28 with a 60% interest, alongside Sonangol with 20%, leaving 20% open for negotiations. Block 29 was awarded to Total as operator with 46%, alongside Equinor (24.5%), Sonangol (20%) and BP (9.5%).

Wide-ranging reform of Angola’s power sector is making progress, but with the economy heavily dependent on oil revenues, investment plans could be significantly slowed. Angola-watchers suggest the effects on the domestic economy of sharply lower global oil prices, coupled with the continued uncertainty over veteran President José Eduardo dos Santos’ succession plans, may create a ‘perfect storm’ that could hasten the long-awaited regime change.

Malawi is completing the sign-up steps to become an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) candidate and is expected to present an application to the EITI Board by 30 June. The EITI is part of the government’s commitment to develop the oil and mining sector in a manner that generates revenue to the state and benefits the citizens of Malawi.In a state of the nation speech to parliament on 5 May, President Peter Mutharika said: “In view of the commitment by government to enhance transparency in the mining sector, government will join the EITI to promote revenue transparency.

The South African government suffered a major setback in its efforts to procure nuclear power when the High Court in Cape Town ruled on 26 April that three intergovernmental agreements, two ministerial determinations and all subsequent procurement activity was unlawful and unconstitutional. The decision means that two ministerial determinations – announcements by the energy minister that a certain amount of capacity will be procured from a particular technology – from 2013 and 2016 underpinning the government’s ambitious, and controversial, efforts to procure 9,600MW of nuclear power have been set aside.

With over 7.4GW of engine capacity installed across 45 countries, Helsinki-headquartered Wärtsilä reports progress on its own co-developed power projects in four sub-Saharan markets – Nigeria, Gabon, Mozambique and Malawi – as well as for a range of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for gas-to-power (GTP) schemes.

Aqua Power in late July lost a legal challenge to the award of an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the 185MW Kinyerezi I gas power plant to CSI Energy Group (Tanzania). The contract was awarded by Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) in November 2020.

The global take-off of corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) is driving an evolution in contracts across the supply chain as companies push to achieve environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, writes Dan Marks.

One of the kingdom’s most widely known energy executives, Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) development director Tarik Hamane, is joining Total Eren.

The addition of Senegal to the list of countries negotiating a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with G7 counterparties is an important diplomatic achievement for those countries in the developed world striving to keep the concept of just transition alive. It would have been difficult for the just transition concept to maintain its claims to moral credibility – that it is a viable route to justice in climate finance – if it could not find even one more African partner to sign up for a JETP.

A wind of change is blowing through Seeg, whose electricity and water activities are to be split into two companies under a new chief executive, but the Gabonese state utility remains dogged by structural problems, including large debts owed by state entities and under-investment in the grid – all of which makes Seeg’s potential privatisation a huge challenge.