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A $3bn emergency loan secured by Nigerian National Petroleum Company from Cairo-based Afreximbank has reinforced Nigeria’s tight relationship with one of the few multilateral lenders still willing to support oil and gas spending, and underlined Abuja’s urgent need for financial support to underwrite President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda.

Namcor’s glitzy headquarters are an indication of its growing influence, following major offshore finds, but there are also signs of an increasingly bitter power struggle, with the suspension of the national oil company’s managing director and the arrest of its chair, writes Our Namibia Correspondent.

After months of speculation that President Macky Sall would bid for a constitutionally-prohibited third term, his announcement in July that he wouldn’t run was greeted with relief. Yet continued political violence and a fear Sall may seek to install a proxy candidate underline wider governance concerns, not least over hydrocarbon revenues, writes Waly Dione Faye.

Ethiopia is set to join the ranks of Africa’s lithium exporters, with first production from the Kenticha resource slated for later this year. But doubts about this claim have been raised by a group of Abyssinian Metals shareholders, who are fighting a boardroom and courtroom battle to remove the Australian developer’s board.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan appointed Doto Mashaka Bitek as her energy minister, along with a promotion to deputy prime minister, in a 30 August cabinet reshuffle that moved January Makamba to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation.

China’s Kaishan Group is acquiring one of the three 35MW geothermal developments at Menengai from Symbion Power, while Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power has connected to the Kenya Power grid and Globeleq’s documentation will soon be finalised, a senior official said.

State-owned enterprises Botswana Railways and South Africa’s Transnet Freight Rail are seeking $230m to develop a 113km rail line between Mmamabula in Botswana and Lephalale in South Africa to transport coal and other commodities.

Electricidade de Moçambique (EdM) is to advance $3m to the Mphanda Nkuwa Implementation Office (GMNK) to help with the cost of development work for the 1.5GW Mphanda Nkuwa hydroelectric power (HEP) plant, ahead of financial close.

The coup d’état in Niger appears to be undermining oil and gas sector ambitions in neighbouring Benin, with London Stock Exchange-listed independent Zenith Energy citing regional political instability as a reason for pulling out of talks for a production-sharing contract to resume output from Block 1 and potential delays anticipated to the $7bn Niger-Benin export pipeline (NBEP), which was due to be completed this year.

The Lagos-headquartered Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is investing $95m in Kampala-headquartered Mahathi Infra Uganda. The funding will be used to build two barges that will move diesel, gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel 250km across Lake Victoria, from Kisumu in Kenya to Bugiri-Bukasa.

The agreement for Senegal to become only the second African economy to secure a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) has the potential to salvage the climate financing framework’s credibility, which appeared to be flatlining.

Tanzania faces a $109.5m hit in one of several disputes dating back to late president John Magufuli’s government, after an Icsid arbitral panel decided in favour of the Ntaka Hill nickel sulphide joint venture in the latest – but likely not the last – bill to come due from the former administration’s nationalist economic policies – a legacy President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s reforming government is working to overcome, writes Marc Howard.

Zambian state utility Zesco’s plan to reduce its chronic indebtedness is making progress, with a crucial renegotiation of existing power purchase agreements (PPAs) with independent power producers (IPPs) appearing to bear fruit.

Some media reports have pointed to Niger’s substantial uranium deposits as a potential motivation for the coup – although personal ambitions are a more likely motivation.

Most big oil companies reported a sharp falls in profits in Q2 2023, but Africa still figures prominently in results and future plans – and where it doesn’t majors are able to divest at least some of their more attractive assets.