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Nigeria has succeeded in overturning a $6.6bn arbitral award made against it in 2017, with the High Court in London ruling the award had been obtained by fraud. The High Court ruled that British Virgin Islands-registered Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) had engaged in “the most severe abuses of the arbitral process” in winning its 2017 case against the Nigerian government over a failed gas supply and processing deal.

Karadeniz’s subsidiary Karpowership South Africa has secured environmental approval to proceed with the 450MW Richards Bay gas-to power plant.

The World Bank has agreed to extend $1bn to South Africa to help the government’s energy security goals and the transition to a low carbon economy. The development policy loan is expected to help with restructuring of the power sector through the unbundling of state-owned power utility Eskom, as well as encouraging private investment in renewable energy.

Dubai-based port operator DP World has signed a 30-year concession with Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to operate and modernise Dar es Salaam Port.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) are anchor investors in a bond issue intended to support a government-led programme to connect more low-income households to the national grid.

The International Monetary Fund has agreed a new $253m programme to help Nouakchott strengthen its resilience to climate shocks and accelerate its transition to clean energy.

US-based developer Husk Power Systems has secured funds from investors, which it will use to scale up its solar mini-grid developments in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Husk – which was established in 2008 – claimed its new Series D funding was “the largest-ever equity raise in the mini-grid industry”.

Amid fresh speculation that it is eyeing up an entry into Mozambique’s Rovuma LNG project, Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation (Adnoc) looks set to become a more active participant in upstream projects in Africa, so long as natural gas is on the agenda.

Even before the new Middle East war shattered comfortable assumptions about regional security, the global economic climate remained hostile to many heavily-indebted and financially stressed governments, and to populations who have struggled to live with fallout from the pandemic and Ukraine war, which has included painful levels of inflation and costly currency volatility. African Energy offers a few pointers towards another difficult year ahead, as the IMF issues its annual appraisals of the global outlook and regional economic performance, and the Israel-Palestine conflict returns to centre stage in an increasingly polarised world.

Insurers focusing on energy sectors appear cautiously optimistic, despite many parts of Africa experiencing economic, political or security volatility. Some insurers are expanding into new sectors, such as transmission and C&I power plants, buoyed by high demand for what is often an unsung, but important element in project and financial structures, writes Marc Howard.

Few countries generate such strong opinions, for and against, as Rwanda, which is ruled with an iron fist by an apparently ageless President Paul Kagame. All but set for re-election again in August 2024, Kagame continues to make himself very useful to allies, acting as a regional policeman while also a player in his neighbours’ conflicts, while drawing in finance despite criticism of governance abuses, write Tonderayi Mukeredzi and African Energy staff .

Guinea’s military government has received a significant fillip as mining giant Rio Tinto and Chinese steelmaker Baowu made further commitments to the Simandou megaproject – in the process offering hope to Interim President Mamady Doumbouya that exports could eventually start from the long-stalled scheme, as his regime moves slowly on the promised transition back to democracy, write Marc Howard and Our Conakry Correspondent.

For Interim President Mamady Doumbouya, progress on the Simandou iron ore megaproject may show his transitional regime is capable of effective governance in Guinea, as he courts a range of international leaders –  as the colonel underlined by his attendance in New York at the late September United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) – and tries to control the calendar for political transition.

Balanced on a financial tight-rope, the Egyptian government is still securing investment commitments for its green energy transition and has brought forward its renewables target by five years. London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is financing the first part of a $2bn programme of transmission upgrades and has named the first gas-fired generator to be shut under the scheme, while Maersk’s new C2X green methanol venture has picked Egypt for its first deal.

Macky Sall has installed trusted ally Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome as oil and energy minister in a move said to be designed to extend outgoing president’s influence over the sector even after he leaves office, writes Waly Dione Faye.