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Siemens Energy has won a contract to provide a power generation plant for the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel at the 70,000 b/d Kaminho upstream project, 100km off the coast of Angola.

Operator Energean and partner Chariot have reported difficulties in the recent drilling campaign on the offshore Anchois gas prospect, although some exploration work is continuing on what is Morocco’s largest uncommercialised gas discovery.

There has been renewed turbulence in South Sudan’s oil and gas sector, with the government stepping in to block a deal for London AIM-listed Savannah Energy to buy upstream assets from Malaysian national oil company Petronas for $1.25bn. It comes as South Sudan tries to resume pipeline exports of Dar Blend crude oil, which have been offline for more than six months.

West Africa Energy’s nearly-complete thermal plant at Cap des Biches will bring much-needed baseload capacity to Senelec’s network, supporting further renewable power projects. Meanwhile, the ruling Pastef party has started an audit of energy contracts awarded by the previous regime – with gas-to-power projects included in its scope, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar.

Malaysian national oil company Petronas is leading a pack of several international contenders eyeing up a potential investment in Senegal's 25tcf offshore Yakaar-Teranga gas development.

The nominally ‘independent candidate’ Abdelmajid Tebboune seems set for a second term when Algerians vote in the 7 September presidential election. He has promised accelerated investment in electricity and other infrastructure, a more responsive business environment and faster delivery of jobs and social services – with big new hydrocarbons deals to pay for it all.

Building on funding commitments from the AfDB, US and EU, work is accelerating on the Angola-DRC-Zambia rail network. The Lobito Corridor’s first phase has already seen faster, cheaper exports of Copperbelt minerals and a feasibility study on a Zambian spur is due. Washington is now mulling support for a potential extension of the corridor to the Indian Ocean, which could compete with Chinese plans to rehabilitate the Tazara link, but might even lead to co-operation with Beijing.

Despite many challenges, local investors are continuing to make large bets on the mature assets being sold off by international majors. However, the wider economic environment is also difficult, with widespread protests laying bare the scale of the problems facing President Tinubu’s government, writes Leonard Lawal in Abuja with Marc Howard.

Canada’s Africa Oil Corporation has acquired an option to buy a 7% stake in Impact Oil & Gas from existing shareholders, as it continues its efforts to increase its exposure to the Orange Basin.

Despite an Angolan-brokered ceasefire signed on 30 July between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, rebels of the Alliance du Fleuve Congo and their M23 allies are moving north towards Butembo. Their advance along Lake Edward could reach the DRC’s Albertine Graben oil blocks, though these have been unlicensed for several years.

Local downstream player Elton Oil is advancing its $120m regasification terminal project and has signed an offtake deal with Senelec to provide the utility with gas feedstock. The move could be an important step in Dakar’s move away from liquid fuels towards cheaper and less polluting gas, writes Waly Dione Faye in Dakar.

A deal has ended a three-month suspension of oil shipments from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, enabling the resumption of significant Nigerien production – and vital foreign exchange earnings for Niamey. Meanwhile, the Nigerien junta has appointed a new oil minister with intriguing connections and has signed a deal with Algiers to restart work at a northern oil block, writes Marc Howard with Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou.

The CNSP regime has triumphantly commemorated the anniversary of its ousting of President Bazoum. But the festivities merely distract from a worsening security situation that has seen major oil investor CNPC suspend work in the Agadem Rift Basin, part of a $7bn investment including a pipeline which remains idle over a dispute with Benin. Niger’s woes lay bare the folly of the chauvinistic politics advanced by the Sahel’s juntas, writes Marc Howard.

President Emmanuel Macron’s intervention on the Western Sahara question adds another level of complication and irritation to international relations in north-west Africa. His motive in spelling out support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory in a letter to King Mohammed VI, which he must have known would be immediately leaked to the media, is hard to explain. It puts major French business interests in Algeria in peril and will aggravate regional tensions. All sides will have to work hard to avoid an accidental escalation.

Reeling from the suspension of exports from the Niger-Benin Export Pipeline, the military regime in Niamey has sought to relaunch its mothballed NOC as an upstream player. It has also looked at reviving a tie-in to the Chad-Cameroon pipeline – an option previously rejected in favour of the NBEP, and is preparing expressions of interest for a new 100,000 b/d refinery.