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India’s Nava Bharat Ventures (NBV) is seeking support from the Zambian government to raise finance to double output at its Maamba Collieries Ltd (MCL) coal-fired power plant, after Chinese lenders that backed the initial phase proved unwilling to fund the planned expansion.

Nigeria’s Starsight Energy and South Africa’s SolarAfrica said on 1 August they had completed their merger deal, first announced in September 2022. The deal creates one of Africa’s largest renewable energy-focused commercial and industrial players.

French major TotalEnergies has started drilling at the Tilenga oilfield – a key part of the wider Lake Albert project in Uganda – while facing down fresh criticism over the Eacop export pipeline to Tanzania.

The officially-titled Second Russia-Africa Summi , which included the Economic and Humanitarian Forum, convened in St Petersburg on 27-28 July, with its guest list trimmed to only 17 heads of state and government, compared to the 43 who attended President Vladimir Putin’s inaugural event in 2019.

Nigerien military officers have sought to oust key western ally President Mohamed Bazoum in a 26 July putsch that has implications for regional stability and the fight against jihadism in the Sahel. In the West, Bazoum has been seen to be leading a reforming administration that is intent on fighting the regional Islamist insurgency and pushing back against malign Russian influence.

TotalEnergies said on 25 July that it is buying out all other shareholders in renewable energy (RE) developer Total Eren. The Paris-headquartered supermajor had acquired a 30% stake in 2017, which gave it the right to fully acquire the firm formerly known as Eren after five years.

Numerous high-level American delegations have visited Africa this year, as Washington seeks to counter Chinese influence around the continent and emphasise its interest in striking mutually beneficial trade and investment deals, but African governments are pushing for better terms of trade and an extension of the soon-to-lapse Agoa trade deal, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi recently in Gaborone.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ticked a lot of the right boxes for those hoping Nigeria will at last tackle the thorny problems that have hobbled the country’s economic and political prospects. In some respects, he has moved even more quickly than even those close to his transition team expected, in response to the deterioration of key indicators during his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari’s two terms. 

Botswana has agreed a revised deal with diamond miner De Beers, giving the state a larger role in trading the gemstones and providing a model that others could follow as they seek greater control over their mineral resources. But with longer-term revenues under pressure from changing consumer habits and synthetic diamonds, the authorities are pushing to develop a more diverse minerals industry, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi in Gaborone.

Analysis of procurement trends recorded on the African Energy Live Data platform shows that capacity procured through competitive auctions should add at least 15.1GW by 2027, with solar and natural gas adding an estimated 4.4GW and 4.3GW respectively, while wind and hybrid power will also make significant additions to the continent’s generation mix, writes Ajay Ubhi.

Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin was reported telling his fighters in Belarus on 19 July that they would take no further part in Moscow’s war in Ukraine, but they must ready themselves for “a new journey to Africa”. A consequence for the Russian militia’s operations from Prigozhin’s failed march on Moscow in June would seem to be that President Vladimir Putin’s useful, if volatile proxy, does a pivot to Africa, where it is already a substantial force.

Australia’s Danakali was, until recently, developing the Colluli potash project in the Danakil Depression region, 230km from Eritrea’s main port of Massawa. But chairman Seamus Cornelius told African Energy international sanctions had made it “incredibly difficult” to raise funds and develop the project.

South Sudan is facing a dilemma about how it keeps its oil and gas flowing at a time when its export route via Sudan is at risk from a conflict  that has fanned out well beyond Khartoum.

Eritrea is seeking to improve strained relations with its East African neighbours while also deepening ties with key allies China and Russia. Some multilateral institutions including the African Development Bank are also offering new support, but Asmara remains isolated from western financing and is likely to remain so for as long as President Isaias Afwerki’s capricious and repressive regime remains in place, write Tonderayi Mukeredzi and Jon Marks in an African Energy special report.

Gulf governments have proved among President Vladimir Putin’s most enthusiastic friends, undermining western efforts to isolate Moscow in a relationship that goes beyond energy and business links. With the mercenary Wagner Group active across the Sahel, several dozen cargo flights between Abu Dhabi and a remote air strip in eastern Chad have provoked renewed speculation about the UAE’s ties with Moscow and its proxies, Gulf States Newsletter staff* report.