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International oil companies in Gabon have adopted a ‘business as usual’ approach since General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema’s coup last August, as expressed by Vaalco Energy’s chief executive George Maxwell in an interview with African Energy. But the government’s decision to step in and use the state-owned Gabon Oil Company to acquire Assala Energy – thus sidelining French independent Maurel & Prom which had planned to buy the business – points to a more activist approach from the recently-installed authorities in Libreville.

Disbursement of the first tranche of Afreximbank’s $3.3bn crude-for-finance deal will help to ease Abuja’s immediate financial difficulties, as the Tinubu administration needs all the help it can get to alleviate a cost of living crisis that threatens to alienate the president’s support base and derail essential reforms.

The UAE’s latest comprehensive economic partnership agreement has been signed with Brazzaville, in another step forward for Abu Dhabi’s plans to build its global profile by negotiating bilateral trade deals.

Félix Tshisekedi has won a second presidential term in Democratic Republic of Congo. The result has been contested by his opponents, who were crying foul long before most of the country went to the polls on 20 December and have continued to point to major irregularities thereafter.

Abu Dhabi’s perceived support for General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti)’s RSF rebels led the Burhan regime to order 15 UAE embassy staff to leave Khartoum, posing further questions about the Gulf state’s role in the Sudanese civil war, while Hemedti makes significant diplomatic gains abroad and military advances in tortured Sudan.

Italian major Eni has blazed a trail back into Libya that numerous international oil companies are now following. Even if the risks on re-entry remain severe at many levels, the lure of unprecedented, if controversial, opportunities may be impossible to resist.

The South African government’s decision to approve state-owned PetroSA’s selection of an affiliate of Russia’s sanctioned Gazprombank as the preferred investment partner for the Mossel Bay GTL plant has sparked controversy.

The UAE has had to deal with some unwelcome scrutiny of its energy strategy after the COP28 climate conference opened in Dubai on 30 November. Observers had long warned that holding such an event in the world’s seventh largest oil producer was likely to lead to friction and so it has proved. African Energy’s sister publication Gulf States Newsletter (GSN) gives a view from the region, including a roundup of the big pledges made in a ‘transactional’ first week.

War-torn but entrepreneurial Somalia is edging back towards normality, at last securing membership of the East African Community and reporting some progress in tackling Al-Shabaab militants. The government also has longer-term ambitions to exploit ample renewable energy potential and offshore oil and gas resources, writes Dominic Dudley.

The funding provided by the United Arab Emirates for the 3.5MW Bosaso solar plant is the latest element in a long engagement in the area by the Gulf power.

Angola's President João Lourenço travelled to Washington on 30 November to meet his American counterpart Joe Biden, in a meeting described by the White House as advancing the development of the 1,290km Lobito Corridor rail project.

Landlocked and energy-poor, eSwatini wants independent power producers to play a bigger role in building renewable energy capacity, as the kingdom strives to generate sufficient power and end years of over-dependence on imported electricity.

The leak of briefing notes for COP28 president Sultan Al-Jaber just ahead of the summit’s opening in Dubai drew attention to the United Arab Emirate’s extensive energy dealings in key African economies, including Egypt and Kenya. Key players include renewables flagship Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

A solar PV and battery energy storage plant has been commissioned at Danzi, 18km north-west of the capital Bangui, according to the World Bank Group. The plant is a significant addition to CAR’s under-developed grid, which had a total of 49.65MW online prior to Danzi’s commissioning, according to African Energy Live Data. During the Danzi commissioning ceremony, President Faustin Archange Touadera lamented “the lack of investment over the past 40 years” in CAR’s electricity industry. The lack of interest among private and foreign investors is not surprising, given CAR’s long-running civil war and poor governance.

African Energy examines the events surrounding the recent talks in late October between President General Abdel-Fattah Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Lieutenant General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo (often known as Hemedti).