With tougher anti-bribery legislation in place in the US and UK, local partners have been identified as a key vulnerability. Foreign companies need them to help them navigate the local business environment, especially if it is government policy to develop local content.

Oslo-listed junior African Petroleum hopes to secure a new lease of life through an all-shares merger with Cyprus-registered PetroNor E&P Limited, which is owned by Norwegian and Emirati interests. PetroNor has a 10.5% indirect interest in the Perenco-operated PNGF Sud fields in Republic of Congo and right to negotiate entry into an adjacent licence covering the PNGF Bis fields. African Petroleum’s sole remaining assets are claims on two blocks in Senegal and Gambia, where it has challenged the respective governments’ decisions to reassign them

An Italian court has sentenced two middlemen to four years in prison for their role in Royal Dutch Shell and Eni’s 2011 acquisition of OPL 245. Emeka Obi and Gianluca Di Nardo had opted for a fast-track trial, while a larger trial including Royal Dutch Shell, Eni and 13 other defendants is ongoing.

Siemens, in partnership with Spain’s TSK, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to cooperate to identify measures to fast-track power generation and work towards increasing capacity by an additional 300MW by 2019. One of the short-term initiatives is the installation of a Siemens 44MW aeroderivative gas turbine (SGT-A45) for mobile power generation in Antananarivo.

The new government has suspended a licensing round launched in November offering 44 blocks in the Morondava Basin. An announcement from the Office of National Mines and Strategic Industries on 15 February said the round was suspended until further notice.

PetroSA is confident that its planned new $11bn oil refinery at Coega in Eastern Cape Province will go into operation processing 400,000 b/d of crude from 2014. But the refinery still has major question marks hanging over it, particularly its cost and the lack of an equity partner to help develop the project and supply crude.

Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) wrote to preferred bidders earlier this month informing them of the extension of their bank guarantees to January 2016. The extension is optional and allows bidders to drop out without penalty, although this will result in the forfeit of their preferred bidder status and trigger negotiations between NDPHC and the reserve bidder. However, few industry sources expect this option to be exercised. “If a company has achieved preferred bidder status, why would they want to drop out unless they are in financial trouble?” law firm Dentons’ senior counsel Raj Kulasingam told African Energy.

Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) said on 7 May it would be forced to introduce 15-hour power cuts every day for a week because a scheduled inspection at the Songo Songo gas production facility would cut off supply to gas-fired plants. The utility said all consumers connected to the national grid would be affected

Eni has begun the construction of a 5MW solar photovoltaic plant at the Adam oil concession in the Tataouine governorate. The energy produced will be used on site, reducing gas consumption and avoiding around 6.500 t/yr of CO2 equivalent emissions. The solar plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 as part of a cooperation agreement with Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières. The project aims to establish a hybrid electricity production system with battery storage devices to integrate with the existing turbines.

The government has launched a tender seeking a company to carry out an audit of national oil production and petroleum industry activities and produce a 2017 audit report on the industry. Objectives of the audit include completing an accurate assessment of oil, condensate and gas reserves and production; reporting on revenue and investment flows; and making recommendations on the technical, fiscal and regulatory issues faced by the petroleum industry.

Seven years after discovering oil in Uganda, Tullow and its partners have still not agreed a development plan with the government. Talks on the details have dragged on for years, stalling mostly over how big a refinery the development should include, and the parties are still only at the stage of discussing a memorandum of understanding (MoU). Tullow, Total, CNOOC and the government have now agreed on an export pipeline and a refinery sized initially at 30,000 b/d, with the potential to expand to 60,000 b/d. The partnership has completed the concept stage of pipeline studies and discussions with the government on pipeline co-operation are continuing, Tullow said.

The international board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has designated Mali as EITI compliant, bringing the total number of EITI compliant countries to 12, including five others in Africa.

The state-owned Sudanese Thermal Power Generating Company signed an agreement with Germany’s Siemens on 1 December to supply five 172MW SGT5-2000E gas turbines. The units will be operational by the end of 2017.Siemens will also supply associated SGen5-100A generators and SPPA-T3000 control systems. Three of the units will be installed at the Garri III power station north of the capital, Khartoum, while the other two will be installed at Port Sudan on the country’s Red Sea coast.

Tenders for the construction of the 129-145MW Ruzizi III hydropower dam could be launched by year-end or early in 2010, write François Misser, and Jon Marks in Bordeaux.

Following the end of its civil war, Angola has become an increasingly assertive regional player, reflected in a number of security deals – projecting the powerful Forças Armadas Angolanas (FAA) beyond Angola’s borders, notably in Brazzaville and Kinshasa – and in its determination to support Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.