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Oil industry reformer Shukri Ghanem’s resignation after a dispute with the prime minister is shrouded in mystery, but NOC seems determined to carry on business as usual. Beneath the recent dramatic developments in Tripoli lies Muammar Qadhafi, who has been reasserting his will over swathes of the economy, writes John Hamilton

Militants in the Niger Delta have agreed to extend their ceasefire by 30 days but there has been little improvement in the situation on the ground. Some militants have surrendered their weapons in public ceremonies, but one source in the Delta told African Energy: “it’s just tokens, more guns are still being hidden in the creeks.”

Shukri Ghanem – an academic who became one of Libya’s few genuine economic reformers, he spent most of the 1990s working as a petroleum economist at OPEC in Vienna, where he established a close connection with Saif Al-Islam Al-Qadhafi.

Nearly a decade of quiet British diplomacy and adroit Libyan manoeuvring left Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill with no realistic option but to return convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali Mohammed Al-Megrahi to Libya. Any alternative would have thrown into question the whole logic of rapprochement with Libya – one of the UK’s few notable international triumphs of recent years.

The 40th anniversary of Muammar Qadhafi’s Fatah Revolution will confirm the regime’s hold on power and ability to shape Libya’s direction. Changes are anticipated to the way the political system operates, but more important still may be shifts in the pecking order within the first family, writes Jon Marks

While most attention focuses on Sayef and Muatassim, an even younger military son, Khemis El Qadhafi, is starting to play a significant role. From a young age, Khemis has led an elite military unit, which military observers say is being promoted by Qadhafi senior as a major force

The great opportunities that tempted so many international players into Libya’s energy sector have not gone away.

NOC’s push to get international operators to do work and employ locally makes political sense to Tripoli, but localisation measures are adding to the pressure on foreign partners

Human Rights Watch’s new report lists a number of business dealings between relatives of President Obiang and US

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m to the Ogoni people to settle a long-running court case brought in the United States under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

Brussels is looking for project proposals to be funded from a new renewables-focused European Union facility to stimulate electrification projects and help fight climate change, writes François Misser.

No one doubts Dr Rilwanu Lukman’s pedigree in the Nigerian oil industry, but his return as oil minister last year, formalising his central role in shaping the Yar’Adua administration’s policy,

While little has been heard since UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown met Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua last July and promised to help tackle illegal bunkering of fuel from the Niger Delta, officials say technical work has been going on behind the scenes (AE 144/24).

Eight African states have applied to the United Nations to extend their territorial waters beyond the 200-mile limit, while the other eligible coastal states have put in preliminary claims (AE 137/21). Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, Côte d’Ivoire and Namibia

Following the end of its civil war, Angola has become an increasingly assertive regional player, reflected in a number of security deals – projecting the powerful Forças Armadas Angolanas (FAA) beyond Angola’s borders, notably in Brazzaville and Kinshasa – and in its determination to support Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.