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National oil company Sonatrach has started natural gas production at three Gourar Basin fields, as part of the second phase of its South West Gas Project (SWGP).

Egyptians are hoping for cooler weather and with it the end of severe rolling power outages which have caused difficulties throughout the summer. However, the social and economic legacies of the electricity supply crisis will outlast the ferocious Mediterranean heatwave, which has provided the government’s only – but far from satisfying – explanation for why the outages happened, writes John Hamilton.

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery will receive its first crude cargo by the start of October and should be producing up to 370,000 b/d of diesel and jet fuel later that month, according to comments by group executive director Devakumar Edwin to S&P Global Commodity Insights published on 18 September.

Former Lundin Energy executives denied charges of any complicity in Sudanese atrocities as their trial opened in early September, with hearings in the Stockholm District Court that fit into a growing trend for prosecutors to target companies and senior personnel for war crimes and similar outrages, no matter when they were committed, writes Chris Stephen in Stockholm.

South Africa’s EPCM Holdings has been asked to carry out technical and commercial assessments on two possible routes for piping gas from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) and Bir Allah offshore fields, with a view to promoting industrialisation and supplying gas-to-power projects in Mauritania.

A report that two recently acquired vessels being converted into FSRUs are destined for South Africa further bolsters the idea that the long-stalled deployment of Karpower’s floating gas-fired capacity has gained momentum, despite continued opposition from campaigners

Once fully commissioned, the nameplate 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery complex is expected to transform the downstream sector in West Africa, but other major refinery projects are also under way in Angola and Ghana, writes James Gavin.

President Tinubu aims to double Nigeria’s crude output by 2027, but while a series of oil and gas projects are moving forward – and should arrest the slide in production of recent years – analysts suggest the new government may find it is being overly-ambitious, writes James Gavin.

The abrupt end to the Bongo family’s decades-long rule seems to have caused barely a ripple among Gabon’s international and commercial partners – in contrast to the impact of the spate of coups d’état further north – as General Brice Oligui Nguema’s takeover is seen as an inside job that is generally supported across the population. While Gabon’s elite jockeys for position, the critical oil sector appears to have been largely unaffected – for now.

Indian parastatal ONGC Videsh, holder of a 16% net interest in the TotalEnergies-operated Mozambique liquified natural gas (MLNG) development, has provided an update of when it expects force majeure at the 13.1m t/yr project to be lifted.

Namcor’s glitzy headquarters are an indication of its growing influence, following major offshore finds, but there are also signs of an increasingly bitter power struggle, with the suspension of the national oil company’s managing director and the arrest of its chair, writes Our Namibia Correspondent.

The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG and Sangomar oil projects have announced delays, which Senegalese sources told African Energy were caused by one-off external factors that should be resolved soon, while a date has been set for the Yakaar-Teranga offshore gas field’s FID.

The coup d’état in Niger appears to be undermining oil and gas sector ambitions in neighbouring Benin, with London Stock Exchange-listed independent Zenith Energy citing regional political instability as a reason for pulling out of talks for a production-sharing contract to resume output from Block 1 and potential delays anticipated to the $7bn Niger-Benin export pipeline (NBEP), which was due to be completed this year.

The Lagos-headquartered Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is investing $95m in Kampala-headquartered Mahathi Infra Uganda. The funding will be used to build two barges that will move diesel, gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel 250km across Lake Victoria, from Kisumu in Kenya to Bugiri-Bukasa.

Floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) is an emerging option for African operations – and, indeed, is being pioneered by projects on the continent – as with Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s deal with Port Harcourt-based UTM Offshore to build a 1.5m t/yr FLNG vessel to develop the Yoho field.