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Nigeria Stock Exchange (NGX)-listed conglomerate Transcorp Group’s two generating company subsidiaries already provide some 20% of Nigeria’s grid capacity. Now one of them, Transafam Power, is looking to increase output by 35% at many of its units while the other, Transcorp Power, is eyeing up a possible utility-scale solar plant.

Eco has bought a 75% stake in the offshore Block 1 acreage, which it says is on trend with other major finds including Shell's Graff discovery, but the London AIM-listed explorer has also relinquished its interest in Block 2B, where it failed to find commercial resources.

London AIM-listed Chariot Energy has made a natural gas discovery at the second well in its maiden onshore drilling campaign in Morocco, following disappointing results at the first well.

After launching a national green hydrogen (GH2) strategy in late 2023, Tunisia has signed memoranda of understanding with international partners for two large GH2 projects aimed squarely at the European export market, writes Dominic Dudley.

The main attraction for ConocoPhillips in its $22.5bn all-share deal to buy Marathon Oil Corporation is some 2bn barrels of US oil resources, but profitable interests in natural gas fields and processing plants in Equatorial Guinea are also in play.

First gas is expected next year for Tanzania’s strategic Ntorya onshore play, which should significantly boost gas supply amid surging local demand, while operator APT is bullish, pointing to the huge gas resources being developed in adjacent acreage across the Mozambican border.

Re-elected amid some controversy for a second term, President Félix Tshisekedi, is promising accelerated reform, while multilateral officials and ambitious executives are again heavily focused on making the ‘transformational’ Grand Inga hydroelectric megaproject work, and miners looking to better exploit global-scale geology are structuring innovative C&I schemes. But enthusiasm about DRC should always be tempered with realism as its politics remain sulphurous, domestic conflicts murderous, and energy and other economics complex.

The chances of long-awaited LNG schemes moving ahead have been bolstered by Rwanda’s expanded commitment to battling the northern Cabo Delgado province’s enduring Islamist insurgency on behalf of the Maputo government, a move very much in the interests of the international majors planning multi-billion dollar projects. Many other problems remain to be resolved as Mozambique prepares for President Nyusi to stand down in October – in an election where the ruling Frelimo party’s candidate will be Daniel Chapo, whose outsider status points to further splits in the ruling elite.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s decision to pay Portugal’s Galp some $1.15bn for a 10% stake in offshore Area 4 offers further evidence of Mozambique’s LNG improving prospects, even though the Cabo Delgado insurgency hasn’t gone away.

Another boost for Mozambique’s upstream industry was announced on 24 May, when state-owned giant China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed exploration and production (E&P) contracts with ENH for five offshore blocks.

Public and institutional opposition have all but killed off a plan to award an unprecedented 40% production share in NOC’s largest undeveloped oil and gas field to international partners. African Energy has been given access to a large dossier of leaked documents which helps to explain what brought the deal to this point, writes John Hamilton.

The direct award of a large oil field redevelopment contract to a small local group with no known track record has prompted allegations of corruption and raised potentially awkward questions for international companies involved in the Dahra field. It has also had serious political repercussions, as minister Mohammed Aoun was dismissed in March after going public with his concerns about the deal. African Energy has scrutinised government reports and correspondence between officials and Halliburton to get a sense of what has gone wrong.

African Energy’s investigation into National Oil Corporation (NOC)’s large budget and the failings at two of its most important upstream oil and gas projects shows how events at the national oil company holds significance far beyond the small number of oil majors and their partners who are directly involved. Understanding how Libya’s hydrocarbons sector is being run is a matter of vital concern to the Libyan people, whose futures are tied to its success or failure. The investigation should also be of prime interest to a wide range of African Energy subscribers, including those involved in renewable and thermal power or the trade in gas and liquid fuels. Sooner or later, resolving the problems that African Energy is exposing will require the involvement of businesses across the whole energy sector spectrum.

London-AIM listed Afentra has completed a deal to acquire stakes in Angola's offshore blocks 3/05 and 3/05A, from BP/Eni joint venture Azule Energy.

The Kaminho project to develop the Cameia and Golfinho fields in Block 20/11 has reached a final investment decision, as operator TotalEnergies and partners Petronas and Sonangol seek to open up the offshore Kwanza Basin and supply some gas to CCGT units that will serve the Angolan power grid.