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Algeria’s ability to supply more gas has become a strategic priority since its close ally Russia invaded Ukraine. But while Algiers claims a recent series of supply deals and co-operation agreements points to its critical role in meeting surging demand  in Europe, some things are not changing as quickly at state company Sonatrach as the positive headlines suggest, write James Gavin and Jon Marks, with additional reporting by Our Algiers Correspondent and John Hamilton.

Governors of the country’s 36 states have taken legal action to stop the federal government privatising five of the ten power plants developed under the Nigerian Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) initiative.

Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo is looking to arrest the decline in its maturing crude oil acreage, which threatens Republic of Congo’s main source of income, but the national oil company’s biggest priority is to build up its natural gas resources, managing director Maixent Raoul Ominga told James Gavin.

Ahead of elections next year, the team that has pushed reforms to the electricity supply industry is working to ensure international financial commitments for electrification and the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) are secured, and the broad lines of the All Progressive Congress (APC) administration’s policy continue, a senior source told African Energy. A particular focus is making sure that World Bank Group (WBG) commitments are implemented.

After years of futile exploration, President Muhammadu Buhari has announced the discovery of oil in Bauchi and Gombe states in north-eastern Nigeria, just as his administration enters its final period in office. However, there is considerable scepticism about an announcement that could allow fragile northern states to tap into additional federal funding, writes Adaora Elemide in Abuja.

The Zambian authorities appear to have backed down in a long-running dispute with the country’s major mining companies over electricity tariffs, by agreeing to reverse a 2014 hike in charges. Since coming into power in August 2021, President Hakainde Hichilema has signalled a desire to end the dispute and allow the sector to reassert its role as the main contributor to the economy.

Ratings agency Moody’s gave a positive response after the government said it would assume up to two-thirds of troubled Eskom’s debts, but several bailouts have failed in the past and there are doubts about the latest plan’s likelihood of success in meeting the ultimate goal of creating a sustainable utility.

Growing alarm over the scale of the climate emergency and the impossibility of limiting the global temperature increase to just 1.5ºC by 2100 has put Africa’s climate finance conundrum into the spotlight during COP27 in Egypt.  Divisions over the future role of gas in energy transition have split the continent – which will not get all the new money it wants to help it adapt to the consequences of climate change, writes John Hamilton in Sharm El Sheikh.

Heavily reliant on neighbouring South Africa for almost everything, including most of its electricity, Eswatini is trying to become more economically independent, but poor governance, heavy state involvement and political unrest are inhibiting its potential.

Too often ignored except in times of extreme crisis, Lesotho is looking to emerge from years of political instability and economic malaise under previous coalition governments, as the Basotho population counts on newly-elected tycoon Prime Minister Sam Matekane to usher in transformative change.

The new Revolution for Prosperity (RFP)-led government has a tough agenda of reforms to enact if it is to turn around Lesotho’s fortunes.  Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s administration has ambitions to make Lesotho self-sufficient in energy, by increasing generation capacity to an extent that the landlocked kingdom could become an electricity (as well as a water) exporter.

What will be Africa’s longest oil pipeline is now 30% complete and forecast to increase landlocked Niger’s oil exports tenfold in a ‘transformative’ Chinese-owned project that forms part of Beijing’s long-term play in the region. Other actors are looking to ramp up production using the infrastructure, with Niger – on the frontline of battle against jihadism in the Sahel – also being courted by the West.

Fuel smuggling is allegedly being carried out in the port of Benghazi in broad daylight, even as petrol stations in the city and elsewhere across the country run dry, showing how Libya’s hugely expensive fuel subsidy regime is malfunctioning. A recent auditor’s report has set out the costs of the wasteful system and pointed to billions of dollars of oil revenue that remain unaccounted for. John Hamilton investigates.

A new IMF programme, six years after the ‘tuna bonds’ scandal erupted, points to Filipe Nyusi’s success at surviving through difficult times but, with just two years left before his second term ends, the president still has to show he has created an environment able to deliver LNG mega-projects, as the insurgent challenge continues and rival factions line up for a succession, writes Tom Bowker.

Seeking to build African alliances as it navigates the fallout of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia has reiterated its willingness to help build a 1,500km petroleum products pipeline in Republic of Congo, from the oil hub at Pointe Noire to Ouesso in the north.