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Former UK international development secretary Clare Short has replaced Peter Eigen as chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). An outspoken, sometimes controversial figure, notably over her opposition to UK

Two months after the fall of the Qadhafi regime, security at installations and oil fields is still the main barrier preventing international companies from returning to the country, writes John Hamilton. Libya has a new government and NATO has completed its operations, but international oil companies (IOCs) remain reticent about returning to the country. Many country managers at the North African Oil and Gas Summit

Total’s purchase of Marathon Oil’s share in the Waha oil concession may yet be pre-empted by National Oil Corporation (NOC), which is under pressure to step in under identical terms. The Waha employees’ union has rejected the deal, as has the energy committee of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives – Libya’s official legislature.

The Kenyan government is reviewing a design and feasibility study for a crude export pipeline carried out by Japan’s Toyota Tsusho. A senior oil company source told African Energy the report had been submitted to the government in early May and was undergoing internal review. The source’s company had yet to see the document. Toyota Tsusho won a contract to carry out feasibility studies and front end engineering design for the pipeline in November 2014. Once completed, the 1,300km project will be the longest heated pipeline in the world – East African crude is quite viscous so needs heating in order to flow – with a substantial portion below ground.

One of the first African utilities to use a computer-based system for reading meters and logging customer usage, EDM is upgrading the handheld units used by its meter readers with the purchase of some 250 of DAP Technologies’ CE3240B rugged handheld computers.

The deadline by which renewable IPPs must reach financial close is expected to be pushed back to end-August as the Department of Energy struggles to get the necessary approvals signed off, industry sources told African Energy.

Projections and commitments from Ghana’s eloquent political class and the human resources offered by its vibrant young population – forecast to reach 29m in 2018 – drive optimism that a sub-Saharan success story can generate sustainable growth to move its economy beyond lower middle-income status. Following their December 2016 election victory, President Nana Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) government have struggled to turn around a legacy of debt and alleged malfeasance by their National Democratic Congress (NDC) predecessors.

Austria’s Andritz VA Tech Hydro announced in mid-December that it had received a contract valued at more than 40m ($54m) from AES Sonel for refurbishment of the 263MW Edea and 396MW Songloulou hydropower projects on the Sanaga River. The hydropower equipment supplier said it would replace turbine-generators of units 1, 2, and 3 at Edea I. The three units were supplied and installed by the Austrian company between 1949 and 1955 and will each be upgraded from 35.3 MW to 49.2 MW.

Transform Margin-chasers are piling into the deep water as the Ouattara government seeks rapid recovery and progress, while leaving the fight over the Ghana border blocks to another day

Possible new Sonangol borrowing, longer lending tenors and the clearing up of foreign payment arrears are among the major Angolan themes preoccupying foreign financiers and insurers, writes Kevin Godier

Austria’s OMV said on 16 June it had made a new gas discovery during drilling of the Ritma-1 exploration well in the Nawara production concession in southern Tunisia

Sonatrach has announced several new oil and gas discoveries in Algeria during recent weeks, bringing the number of new discoveries this year to 13, six of which have been made with Sonatrach’s international partners.

BG Group has announced a third offshore gas discovery with the Chaza-1 well, in Block 1, 200km south of the earlier Pweza and Chewa discoveries (AE 203/12). The well was drilled in some 950 metres of water, 18km offshore southern Tanzania.

Royal Dutch Shell has sold its entire stake in Woodside Energy as part of its three-year $30bn disbursement programme. Shell said a total of 111.8m shares would be sold on 13 November, representing 13.28% of the issued share capital of Woodside and the entirety of Shell Energy Holdings Australia Limited’s total shareholding in the company, for total pre-tax proceeds of $2.7bn. Shell had been planning to sell only a portion of the stake but, following strong demand from institutional investors, decided to sell it all.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced on 21 February that a second mandate for its Scaling Solar programme has been signed with the government. Zambia’s Industrial Development Corporation has already issued a request for expressions of interest (EoIs) for 150MW-250MW projects, with a deadline of 24 March. Submission of an EoI is not compulsory for participation. Prequalification is expected in late March. Between 250MW and 350MW will be procured under a subsequent procurement round, with the IFC’s mandate covering up to 500MW.