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A 4 September report by anti-corruption campaigner Global Witness has repeated claims of misconduct by Soco International and its contractors in their quest to explore in the Virunga national park. The report, based in part on material gathered for the documentary Virunga, released earlier this year, claims that “Soco and its contractors have made illicit payments, appear to have paid off armed rebels and benefited from fear and violence fostered by government security forces in eastern Congo, as they sought access to Africa’s oldest national park for oil exploration”.

London-based Afren has suspended two more directors as part of an investigation into the receipt of unauthorised payments. The company suspended Iain Wright and Galib Virani on 28 August after finding that they had received payments linked to the previously identified transactions for the benefit of chief executive Osman Shahenshah and chief operating officer Shahid Ullah, who were suspended on 31 July. The payments were not made by Afren, the company said.In a note to its H1 accounts, Afren said the board had engaged lawyers Willkie Farr & Gallagher (WFG) to conduct an independent review into three transactions between Afren and its partners in 2012 and 2013.

Houston-based Cobalt International Energy has cut ties with its Angolan partners after the latest approach from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC issued Cobalt with a ‘Wells notice’ in early August in relation to its operations in Angola, where it holds interests in blocks 9, 20 and 21. The SEC sends a Wells notice to companies or individuals when it is planning to bring charges against them, but it is neither a formal allegation nor a finding of wrongdoing.

Former SNC-Lavalin executive Riadh Ben Aissa in August signed a plea deal in Switzerland that could lead to his extradition to Canada, where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have charges against him (AE 271/20, 253/25, 249/20). He is also facing charges for money laundering, fraud and corruption in Switzerland, where he has been held since his 2012 arrest. Ben Aissa is tied to some $160m in bribes paid to Saadi Qadhafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, in exchange for contracts. Ben Aissa is also alleged to have been part of a plan to smuggle Saadi out of Libya.

Netherlands-based oil services company SBM Offshore in August included a $240m provision in its H1 14 financial statement, in anticipation of a potential settlement for improper sales practices. In April, the company released the findings of an internal investigation into its use of agents which found that SBM paid some $200m in commission to agents during the 2007-11 period, including $18.8m to Equatorial Guinea and $22.7m to Angola. SBM disclosed its findings with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service and the US Department of Justice and is discussing potential settlement options.

The formation of rival governments in eastern and western Libya threatens to drag the country into a full-blown civil conflict even as oil sector activity has reached levels not seen for more than 12 months. The official government appointed by the recently elected House of Representatives and led by interim prime minister Abdullah Al-Thinni appears to command National Oil Corporation (NOC) and the main oil terminals and fields. However, its authority over the Central Bank of Libya is less certain, and its control over military forces, even those that support it, is negligible.

Abdelhamid Zerguine was sacked as chairman and chief executive of Sonatrach on 26 July in a move confirmed by Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal. In Algiers, the sacking was widely linked to a further round of faction fighting surrounding the Algerian energy giant, but it may also have much to say about years of paralysis within Sonatrach, which has slowed its project pipeline to an extent that threatens exports in the latter part of this decade. Vice-president for upstream Saïd Sahnoun has been appointed interim president director-general (PDG). Director of associations Kamel Chikhi has taken over Sahnoun’s old job.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea have both been admitted as full members of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) at an EITI board meeting in Mexico City. “I congratulate the DRC for becoming a full member of the EITI family. Despite all the challenges facing the country, the Congolese people have been working together to bring transparency and accountability to the management of their natural resources,” said EITI board chair Clare Short. DRC’s candidate status was temporarily suspended on 18 April 2013, following the publication of the 2010 EITI Report, which was found to not meet the EITI requirements. The country has since addressed the issues that led to its suspension, an EITI statement said.

The government has included anti-bribery provisions in four out of six petroleum agreements (PAs) currently before parliament for approval. “We are encouraged that PAs for the first time in Ghana’s history contain provisions that shun corruption especially through bribery or any inducement of public officials, politicians and political parties,” the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (Acep) think tank said in a statement. A new clause requires companies to certify compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, and the anti-bribery convention of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Oilfield services company Snamprogetti Netherlands has accepted a charge from the African Development Bank (AfDB) of corrupt practices by affiliated companies related to the Bonny Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Nigeria between 1995 and 2004. Under the terms of the negotiated resolution agreement, Snamprogetti will pay $5.7m in fines, to be used to support AfDB anti-corruption projects. Snamprogetti Netherlands was owned at the time by Milan-based Snamprogetti SpA, which was owned by oil major Eni. The company is now owned by Saipem, whose shares are 43% held by Eni. However, Saipem was indemnified by Eni for losses relating to these charges as part of the 2006 deal which transferred Snamprogetti.

The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) agreed on 6 June to lift the suspension of Madagascar and reinstate its status as a candidate country. The suspension has been in effect since 25 October 2011 following a coup d’état in January 2009. Elections were held in December 2013, and President Hery Rajaonarimampianina took office on 25 January 2014, forming a new government in April. The African Union, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have all resumed cooperation with Madagascar.

The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) declared Sierra Leone EITI compliant on 26 April. EITI compliance means that the country must regularly publish the government’s revenues from its natural resources, and Sierra Leone is required to produce its 2012 EITI report by the end of this year. “I hope this will lead to a process of reform that brings real benefits to the people of Sierra Leone,” said EITI board chair Clare Short. “EITI compliance does not mean that the country’s natural resources are managed in a fully transparent manner, but it is a step on the way and means that citizens can see what revenues the country gets from these resources.”

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has started work with the federal auditor-general to carry out an audit on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over an alleged missing $20bn in oil revenues. Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja on 8 May, finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the work, which began the previous week, should be completed within 16 weeks. “Our feeling is that the only way is to have a forensic audit that would let Nigerians know the truth about the issue,” she said.

Global Witness has called on Italy’s Eni to explain incoming chief executive Claudio Descalzi’s apparent personal involvement in a corrupt oil deal in Nigeria. Descalzi is credited with heading Eni’s E&P division when it discovered huge gas resources offshore Mozambique, and will replace Paolo Scaroni, who has had three terms as Eni’s head (AE 276/19). According to Global Witness, police investigations in Italy and the UK into how Nigeria’s OPL 245 was awarded to Eni and Shell show that Eni officials led by Descalzi were centrally involved in negotiations with former Nigerian oil minister Chief Dan Etete. Etete is believed to have been one of the deal’s main beneficiaries.

A report from US-based advocacy group Global Financial Integrity (GFI) has highlighted how much money is siphoned out of African countries due to the practice of over or understating invoices. In its report, Hiding in Plain Sight, GFI analysed data on bilateral trade flows for 2002–11 from the United Nations’ Comtrade database to estimate misinvoicing for Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. It found that Tanzania experienced the greatest annual average gross illicit flows with $1.87bn. Kenya is second with $1.51bn/yr, and Ghana’s figure of $1.44bn is also significant. Uganda had illicit outflows of $884m/yr, and Mozambique’s figure is $585m.