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Controversial former energy minister Chakib Khelil returned to Algeria on 17 March for the first time since his abrupt departure three years ago, pursued by allegations concerning his role in the Sonatrach corruption scandals (AE 317/17, 297/24). The path towards his rehabilitation was prepared by Front Nationale de Liberation leader Amar Saâdani, who is loyal to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika but not universally supported within his faction.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved an average increase in the electricity tariff for standard customers of 9.8% in 2016-17. The increase follows an application by national utility Eskom to recoup unexpected costs incurred in 2013-14 through a mechanism called the regulatory clearing account (RCA). It allows Eskom an increased revenue over the period of R11.2bn ($727m), less than half of the R22.8bn the utility had applied for and only a marginal change on the increased revenue allowance already approved in the third multi-year price determination (MYPD3), which covers the period 2014-18.

The main outstanding risk facing developers in the feed-in tariff (FiT) programme is whether the government or the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will guarantee the convertibility of revenues earned in Egyptian pounds into dollars. Currently, exchange controls are in force and the bank has set quotas and conditions on the quantity of hard currency that can be exported each month. In mid-February, the CBE began to gradually lift some of these restrictions to try to get foreign exchange from the black market back into the banks.

The governments of Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to renegotiate the terms under which Juba exports its oil, according to officials from the two countries. Transit fees of almost $25/bbl, combined with the drop in the global oil price and the discount at which Dar Blend crude trades, meant that South Sudan faced selling its oil at a loss. Output dropped sharply, heralding a possible shutdown and requiring an urgent renegotiation of transit terms.

Westinghouse Electric Belgium has succeeded in a Supreme Court of Appeal case against a decision by Eskom on 12 August 2014 to award a contract to France’s Areva to replace six steam generators at the 1,800MW Koeberg nuclear power plant in the Western Cape. The ruling overturned an earlier High Court decision in favour of Eskom. Judge Carole Hélène Lewis ordered the utility to rerun the procurement process. Eskom is seeking to challenge the judgement in the Constitutional Court.

The existential threat to facilities in the Sirte Basin is growing while the prospects for a rapid, if partial, political solution to Libya’s crisis are diminishing. A second wave of attacks carried out by Islamic State (IS, or Daesh) on the Ras Lanuf and Sidra oil export terminals on 21 January has demonstrated definitively that the jihadist organisation intends to destroy oil production capability rather than exploiting it for commercial gain.

Rwanda’s style of governance was a positive factor in developing Gigawatt Global’s solar PV project. Developer Chaim Motzen told the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa’s annual conference in November that, “from the time we started negotiations [February 2013] to full production there were three ministers of infrastructure, two [ministers of state for] energy, three Rwanda Development Board heads and three heads of the utility”. Whereas in most countries such frequent churn in key institutions would be seen as a sign of instability, he claimed that in Rwanda it pointed to President Paul Kagame’s rigorous demands for maximum performance.

A London court on 15 December turned down a request by Nigeria’s Malabu Oil & Gas to release $85m frozen last year at the request of the Italian authorities amid an investigation into corruption at Eni relating to the licensing of OPL 245. The sale of OPL 245 to Shell and Eni in 2011 is under investigation by the Public Prosecutor of Milan, the UK’s National Crime Agency and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced a settlement with Japan’s Hitachi over its involvement with African National Congress front company Chancellor House and the 4,764MW Medupi coal power plant in South Africa. The settlement comprises an undisclosed payment to the AfDB, and conditional debarment of up to one year.

Even in a country that has become accustomed to scandal and incompetence at the highest levels of government, the sudden “strategic redeployment” of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene on 9 December caused public outrage and market turbulence. Nene was replaced by unknown backbencher David van Rooyen, a man with no experience of national government. The rand fell to more than R16 to the dollar, South African government bond yields spiked, and equity in South African banks took a hammering, in what one banking source described to African Energy as the biggest domestic economic shock to hit the country since the end of apartheid rule in 1994.

At the time of publishing it was unclear whether the United Nations would persuade delegates from Tobruk’s House of Representatives (HoR) and Tripoli’s General National Congress (GNC), meeting in the Moroccan town of Skhirat, to sign a deal on a unity government. They were ready to do so on 16 December, but at a separate meeting in Malta, HoR speaker Ageela Gwaider and GNC speaker Nuri Abu Sahmain – normally arch-rivals – jointly called for a postponement, making clear that the delegates in Morocco did not represent the will of either assembly.

Nigeria’s Malabu Oil & Gas has brought a case at Southwark Crown Court in London appealing against the freezing of $85m in proceeds from the OPL 245 deal. The funds were frozen last year at the request of the Italian prosecutor amid an investigation into corruption at Eni relating to the granting of the licence. Malabu, owned by former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete, is seeking the release of the funds, arguing that the Italian prosecutor was exceeding his powers in getting them frozen in the first place, and that nothing has happened with the Italian investigation to warrant their continued freezing.

A group of bureaucrats and politicians in the planning, works, energy and finance ministries stand accused of manipulating the state’s policy and procurement procedures since 2012 to steer control of the energy sector into the arms of Xaris Energy, a company closely linked to the ruling Swapo party. Xaris is partly owned by Swapo secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba, who holds a direct interest via his AMA Family Trust, according to an investigation into the N$7.4bn ($554m) expansion of Walvis Bay harbour.

The Cyrenaica-based government of Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni is continuing efforts to establish its own oil sales in the international market, and to prevent buyers from engaging with the Tripoli-based management of National Oil Corporation (NOC). However, despite optimistic claims in early November that the eastern NOC had succeeded in closing a sale, and that a tanker to lift the crude was two days’ sailing from the Marsa Al-Harigah terminal, it has so far failed to overcome resistance from the international community and internal political barriers to achieving this ambition.

Seven months after his election victory, President Muhammadu Buhari has confirmed the members of his first cabinet with some familiar names holding important ministries, and the number of portfolios cut from 42 to 36. As widely expected, Buhari has retained direct control over the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and chosen the recently appointed general managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, as junior minister.