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Key partners in the giant Simandou iron ore project – potentially Africa’s biggest new minerals and infrastructure scheme – are thought to be close to finalising the terms of their joint development, although governance issues appear to have caused a last-minute delay.

Commodity giant Glencore has pleaded guilty and agreed to pay the US authorities almost $1.2bn to end investigations into bribery and market manipulation. The settlement was part of a coordinated resolution with criminal and civil authorities in the US, UK, and Brazil announced on 24 May.

With less than six months to go before COP27 opens at Sharm El Sheikh, a power shift is under way as energy and momentum drain from the United Kingdom’s presidency and build in Egypt’s camp. The early signs are that the next event will have a very different tone and character from COP26 in Glasgow, with considerably less emphasis on making big policy claims that may be hard to keep and a focus on getting climate-related business deals signed.

A dispute over loans given to Aiteo Eastern E&P to pay for its acquisition of Nigerian oil assets from Shell in 2015 is heading for arbitration after a London court ruling. One lender warned that a default could have serious consequences for the Nigerian banking system.

Commodity traders remain vital to Africa and the global economy, yet even the mightiest traders are finding conditions difficult amid the shocks to oil prices and global markets caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trading activity that was in the past routine has become unviable in recent months owing to the increased need for credit. African Energy examines how players have responded to changes in the sector over the past decade, from the information revolution – which has made previously difficult-to-acquire data readily accessible – to shifts in business models, at least in part, towards vertical integration and increasing scale, that have seen traders become processors and even producers in their own right.

Mali’s economy and finance minister Aloussény Sanou has told other government departments their expected funding has been blocked. The move comes after the World Bank suspended its International Development Association (IDA) credits and other facilities to the country.

The World Bank Group has debarred two hydroelectric power equipment arms of Voith Hydro Holding, for what it called collusive and corrupt practices connected to projects in Pakistan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A plan by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to auction 16 oil and gas blocks has attracted opposition from environmental groups, who accuse President Félix Tshisekedi’s government of threatening a sensitive ecosystem.

Energy minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh is resisting calls for electricity tariffs to rise, despite Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) recording an annual loss of at least $400m. 

Tanzania’s Auditor General has criticised the procurement of a major contractor at the Rusumo Falls, blaming the World Bank Group for the deviation.

A High Court ruling left critical questions unanswered over the UK government’s proposed $1.15bn funding for the Area 1 liquefied natural gas scheme in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. The Court of Appeal will now be asked to decide on what could provide an important legal precedent for export credit financing, writes James Gavin

Questions have been raised about Victoria Oil and Gas (VOG)'s  ability to continue after the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) made a substantial award against it in early April. VOG is a business whose importance extends beyond the narrow interests of its shareholders. Its subsidiary Gaz du Cameroun (GDC) is one of the continent’s rare onshore gas producers that sells to a local clientele.

With its redomiciling from Australia to Norway completed at end-February, PetroNor is now looking to increase production from its African assets. However, the investigation into former chief executive Knut Søvold continues, following his arrest in December over projects in Africa.

Washington-based social impact project developer C-Quest Capital (CQC) has secured significant new finance for its deployment of clean cooking stoves in sub-Saharan Africa, in the latest sign of growing interest in the sector.

Since the putsch that removed the now-exiled President Alpha Condé in September, ‘Interim President’ Colonel Mamady Doumbouya has been determined to stamp his mark on Guinea. His policies may be less confrontational than those of his friend Colonel Assimi Goïta in Mali, who replaced French forces with Russian Wagner Group paramilitaries, but Doumbouya has nevertheless asserted control over his country’s political and business life.