Search results

Bola Ahmed Tinubu acted decisively at his 29 May inauguration as head of state, by ordering the removal of subsidies on petroleum products. Sources close to his incoming administration had predicted such a move was likely, but the timing of any announcement had been unclear. Previous governments have promised to remove subsidies before backing away from such a decision, so Tinubu’s nerves are likely to be tested in the face of the protests that are now likely.

The island states off the coast of East Africa are pushing ahead forcefully with renewable energy schemes to reduce their hydrocarbons use. The moves will save money for the authorities in Comoros, Mauritius and the Seychelles by cutting expensive imports of refined products and will also help to address the effects of climate change to which they are particularly vulnerable, writes Marc Howard.

Is Africa’s upstream cementing its credentials as an exploration hotspot? The continent’s upstream has distinct advantages over other global basins, and has a window of opportunity in which to attract investment from companies that face tax burdens in other jurisdictions, writes James Gavin.

China’s involvement in a wide-ranging debt restructuring and refinancing deal with other bilateral and multilateral creditors, headlined by a $3bn IMF facility, could set a precedent for other debt-distressed countries around the continent, but some devilish detail remains to be negotiated, writes Jon Marks.

Establishing a reliable financial framework for building cross-border power interconnections may be the single most effective way to improve electrification across sub-Saharan Africa. Yet bureaucratic impediments are holding up progress at an important scheme, the Southern Africa Power Pool (Sapp)’s Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility (RTIFF), which could implement its first projects in two to three years – with the right support.

International energy majors are investing to raise oil and gas output and developing solar plants, while others are looking to tap into Angola’s critical minerals and other resources plays. With news flow suggesting considerable activity in diverse energy-related industries, but wary of governance shortfalls, African Energy asks: is it time for investors to get excited about Angola?

Amid the worst economic crisis since the Mubarak regime’s collapse in 2011 – highlighted by another credit downgrade in early May – foreign investors in Egypt are struggling to convert their local profits into hard currency. But even in this tough business environment some investors and financiers are signing up to major new renewable energy commitments, suggesting the prospects for profit and strategic positioning still outweigh the risks from dysfunction.

The offshore Dussafu permit is the focus of a six-well drilling campaign, as Gabon looks to address its declining oil production from maturing fields, while IOCs rationalise their assets and plan further exploration, writes James Gavin.

The prospects for giga-scale renewable power projects in North Africa have never been better, leveraging off export-led green hydrogen projects and the advantages of adding cheap non-emitting capacity to already well-developed grids. But the latest figures from African Energy Live Data show that, over the next five years, North Africa will instead pour ever more natural gas into a growing fleet of open cycle plants, while relatively few wind and solar projects have firm completion dates.

Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has consented to state utility Zesco’s request to raise electricity tariffs for domestic consumers but rejected its application to cut a ‘lifeline’ tariff band for vulnerable residential customers from 100kWh to 75kWh per month.

The Greater Pecan offshore oil project seems revived after Africa Finance Corporation took a 50% stake in the field with its acquisition of Aker Energy, in a move that underlined AFC’s policy of supporting hydrocarbons projects with positive economic impacts even while many others have stepped back from backing oil and gas, especially upstream deals, write James Gavin and Jon Marks.

A recent flurry of activity by outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari will help his successor Bola Tinubu to tackle key macroeconomic problems, including cutting subsidies and overhauling the exchange rate. It could pave the way for a more proactive government at a time of extreme economic and other stresses, writes Jon Marks.

Dubai-based Amea Power has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 85MW solar PV power plant it is developing at an unnamed site in North West Province. The agreement was signed with private energy trader GreenCo Power Services, a subsidiary of Lusaka-based Africa GreenCo Group.

Savannah Energy has committed to developing the 75MW Bini a Warak hydroelectric scheme – previously expected to be built by Chinese finance and companies – as an independent power project (IPP). The project should burnish London AIM-listed Savannah’s credentials as a broad-based energy company, during a period when it is consolidating its Cameroonian links while contesting neighbouring Chad’s nationalisation of its upstream assets.

China has agreed to extend a $240m preferential loan to Madagascar to finance construction of the Ranomafana hydroelectric power (HEP) plant on the Ikopa River in Anamalanga, roughly 115 north-west of Antananarivo.