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Taiwan’s CPC Corporation held a ceremony on 1 December to mark the arrival of the first cargo of crude from Chad’s Oryx concession at the Dalin refinery. The first cargo of oil from the Oryx concession, a tanker carrying about 950,000 barrels of crude oil, departed from the Kribi terminal in Cameroon in October 2020 and arrived in Taiwan at the end of November.

A year after initial awards were first announced, minister of petroleum and mineral resources Tarek El-Molla has signed oil and gas exploration agreements with six major IOCs and their Egyptian partner Tharwa Petroleum. Seven of the agreements involving Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) are for offshore areas in the Mediterranean, while two are with South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope) covering areas in the Red Sea. The ministry has said it expects to sign three more agreements soon.

The increasing momentum behind ‘green bonds’ and other instruments that could significantly mitigate the impacts of climate change has been underlined by the decision of one of Wall Street’s most charismatic figures, former US Treasury secretary Henry (‘Hank’) Paulson, to return to finance as executive chairman of the new global fund TPG Rise Climate. Paulson, now 74, was initially approached by Irish rock star turned impact investor Bono.

United Kingdom-based developer Globeleq announced on 11 January that will acquire a 74% stake in Nigeria commercial and industrial (C&I) power company CPGNL.

A new study by the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment predicts that fossil fuels will continue to dominate the energy mix as total electricity generation across the African continent doubles by 2030.

Kenya Electricity Generating Company Plc (KenGen) is requesting expressions of interest from consultants to produce a study on the impact of providing ancillary services on the company’s power plants and finances.

Siemens Gamesa announced on 4 January that it has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Ethiopian Electric Power to build the 100MW Assela wind farm.

Ruzizi III Energy invites prequalification bids by 15 February 2021 for the engineering, procurement and construction of the Ruzizi III regional hydropower project on the border between Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

Globeleq announced on 10 December that Spain’s TSK has been selected to build the 450MW Temane combined-cycle gas power plant in Inhambane province. The award followed a competitive procurement process. Temane will use Siemens turbines, which TSK has used in similarly sized projects elsewhere.

Dubai-based AMEA Power announced on 16 December that it has signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) for a 500MW wind project in the Gulf of Suez and a 500MW solar PV scheme in Aswan governorate. The PPAs were initially signed for 500MW of wind and 200MW of solar in December 2019, but the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy increased the size of the solar project to 500MW.

InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group, on 10 December announced a $27m equity investment in local currency guarantee agency InfraCredit. InfraCredit was established in Nigeria in 2017 by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and InfraCo’s sister institution GuarantCo. InfraCo joins the NSIA and Africa Finance Corporation as a shareholder in the agency.

The government is set to pass a decree revising the boundaries of a 97,000km2 nature reserve in eastern Niger to address the concerns of environmentalists, oil companies and donors. French NGO Noé, which manages the Termit and Tin-Toumma National Nature Reserve (RNNTT) hopes the decree will be adopted before the first round of the presidential election on 27 December.

Vaalco Energy has announced the completion of a 3D seismic survey over the Etame Marin Block ahead of new drilling planned for late 2021 or early 2022. Vaalco said the survey of nearly 1,000km2 would be used to optimise and de-risk future drilling locations and potentially identify new sites. The survey will also enhance sub-surface imaging by merging legacy data with the newly acquired seismic, allowing for the first continuous 3D seismic over the entire block.

The government has approved the creation of a state-owned power producer to support its efforts to make Benin self-sufficient in electricity supply. At a meeting on 2 December, the Council of Ministers, chaired by President Patrice Talon, established the Société Béninoise de Production d’Electricité (SBPE) and approved its statutes.

Much is expected of Joe Biden after he is sworn in on 20 January; some of the anticipated policy shifts the United States’ 46th president and his administration may deliver, others they may not – including reversing some controversial policies promoted by his predecessor.