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Some $10bn worth of deals were struck between Morocco and French energy and infrastructure companies during a late-October visit by Emmanuel Macron to the North African country, during which the French president offered strong support for Rabat’s claim to Western Sahara.

Several majors plan to soon follow Galp Energia to drill in Africa’s most exciting frontier play, while a number of potential partners contemplate farming-in to the Portuguese company’s Mopane asset. The potential for new discoveries and the likelihood of M&A activity has pushed the question of a future Namibian oil and gas industry to the top of the agenda, writes James Gavin.

AIM-listed independent Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas is actively looking to farm-out stakes in its Walvis Basin offshore licences, where it hopes to monetise its long-term commitment to oil-prone blocks that it has been developing for 15 years.

Pretoria needs to find quick solutions to obviate a gas crisis before 2026. Large gas users say that apart from active engagements and some preliminary proposals, no practical and implementable strategies have so far been offered, muddling the future of the gas industry. Complementing public and private sector measures is seen as key to addressing the problem, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi.

The ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) party and its candidate, Daniel Chapo, have been officially declared the landslide winners of Mozambique’s presidential and legislative polls by the Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE – National Elections Commission), after hotly contested and violent elections were held on 9 October. An already discredited electoral process was further undermined by the assassination of two opposition figures prior to the results being declared by the CNE. A volatile situation is adding to investor jitters that could make financing Mozambique’s long-stalled plans to become a significant LNG exporter much more difficult, while more political turbulence beckons.

Some familiar and potentially tempting acreage is included in the new 2024 oil and gas bid round, as authorities seek to show that, this time around, Algeria is intent on bringing more serious players into its upstream, with a view to maintaining output through to 2060, writes Jon Marks.

Belgium’s International Montage Maintenance (IMM) has completed construction of  a 22MW thermal power plant at Gerald Group’s Marampa iron ore mine in Sierra Leone. Owned and operated by the London-headquartered miner, the commercial and industrial (C&I) Marapma facility has now been commissioned.

A precipitous decline in gas output may turn out to be a bigger problem than the recent month-long blockade of oil exports. There is no quick fix for the shortage of feedstock for General Electric Company of Libya (Gecol)’s fleet of power plants, which now depend on record levels of imported diesel the country cannot afford. There is also no other source of generation to fall back on, with Libya now Africa’s only country without any utility-scale, grid-connected renewable capacity, writes John Hamilton.

Algeria is following the regional lead taken by Morocco and Egypt and has signed memoranda of understanding with partners from Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain to launch feasibility studies into two green hydrogen (GH2) schemes which could export to Europe.

Khadim Bâ, a central figure in Senegal’s power and energy sectors for many years, has been arrested following allegations by Senegalese Customs over unpaid oil import duties, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar.

Côte d’Ivoire was an independent power production pioneer when Globeleq and partners commissioned the first phase of Azito GTP in 1999; it now supplies around one-quarter of CdI’s on-grid supply

Swiss multinational Oryx Energies plans an increased presence in Kenya’s fuel markets, diversifying its traditional role as a bulk supplier. It follows a similar move by the company in Uganda.

Following a hydrocarbon exploration and production agreement signed by the Somali Petroleum Authority and the Turkish Petroleum Corporation in July, a seismic research ship has now been sent from Istanbul to explore three offshore blocks in the Horn of Africa, protected by two Turkish frigates. Ankara has also signed a memorandum of understanding with São Tomé and Príncipe which could lead to similar activity there.

Dakar’s plans to meet its refined product needs from domestic feedstock could see an 80,000 b/d greenfield refinery being built. If it goes ahead, it would ease pressure on the country’s only existing refinery, SAR’s 30,000 b/d Mbao plant, which was itself recently upgraded.

The Zambian government has withdrawn plans to set up a state-owned company to control at least 30% of the output of projects focused on copper, cobalt, lithium and other critical minerals, but lobbying by industry has seen the plan put on ice.