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TotalEnergies said on 25 July that it is buying out all other shareholders in renewable energy (RE) developer Total Eren. The Paris-headquartered supermajor had acquired a 30% stake in 2017, which gave it the right to fully acquire the firm formerly known as Eren after five years.

Numerous high-level American delegations have visited Africa this year, as Washington seeks to counter Chinese influence around the continent and emphasise its interest in striking mutually beneficial trade and investment deals, but African governments are pushing for better terms of trade and an extension of the soon-to-lapse Agoa trade deal, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi recently in Gaborone.

Botswana has agreed a revised deal with diamond miner De Beers, giving the state a larger role in trading the gemstones and providing a model that others could follow as they seek greater control over their mineral resources. But with longer-term revenues under pressure from changing consumer habits and synthetic diamonds, the authorities are pushing to develop a more diverse minerals industry, writes Tonderayi Mukeredzi in Gaborone.

Eritrea is seeking to improve strained relations with its East African neighbours while also deepening ties with key allies China and Russia. Some multilateral institutions including the African Development Bank are also offering new support, but Asmara remains isolated from western financing and is likely to remain so for as long as President Isaias Afwerki’s capricious and repressive regime remains in place, write Tonderayi Mukeredzi and Jon Marks in an African Energy special report.

Australia’s Danakali was, until recently, developing the Colluli potash project in the Danakil Depression region, 230km from Eritrea’s main port of Massawa. But chairman Seamus Cornelius told African Energy international sanctions had made it “incredibly difficult” to raise funds and develop the project.

Lagos-headquartered commercial and industrial (C&I) developer Rensource has closed a $15m debt finance facility with Afrigreen’s Debt Impact Fund.

A $7bn budget allocation made last year to National Oil Corporation was intended to boost crude output, but no new projects have yet been launched, prompting questions over the lack of oversight at NOC, in a state already hollowed out by smuggling, corruption and theft. It comes amid signs that Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Al-Dabaiba and rival warlord Khalifa Haftar are taking greater control over oil revenues, raising further questions for IOCs who are wondering whether to reinvest, writes John Hamilton.

The state-owned Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has agreed a $20m concessional loan to upgrade transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure in the Kamonyi district of Rwanda.

World Bank Group (WBG) president Ajay Banga announced a ‘portfolio guarantee programme’ on 17 July, on the last day of the G20 meeting in India, in a package of measures the Washington-based multilateral said was designed to increase its lending capacity, “stretch every dollar” and “drive impactful development and take more risk”.

Amea Power has secured a $75m equity funding round from SoftBank Group Corporation (SBG). The Dubai-based developer said the Japanese investor’s financing represented its “first external equity funding following years of being privately funded by its founding shareholders, the [Kuwaiti] Al-Nowais family.”

A long-awaited final investment decision (FID) for the 18m t/yr Rovuma liquefied natural gas (LNG) project could be made in 2025, operator ExxonMobil has told Bloomberg.

Casablanca-headquartered infrastructure investor Africa50 is seeking $500m for the first close of its Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF), launched at its 3 July shareholders’ meeting in Lomé.

Globeleq has consolidated its southern Africa focus – and substantial position in Mozambique – while Norway’s Scatec has sold down another of its ground-breaking projects, as the London-based developer bought a 75% stake in the 40MW Mocuba solar PV plant in Zambézia province.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has committed funds to double capacity at the Doraleh desalination plant near Djibouti City, develop a solar PV plant to meet the higher power demand and expand wastewater treatment plants at Doraleh, Balbala and Douda.

Old Mutual Zimbabwe has poured millions of dollars into renewable energy projects, showing local solutions can be found to support a new generation of developers in a market where local institutional investors and foreign capital are reluctant to fund energy schemes.