Kenneth Oyakhire

The US International Development Finance Corporation will make more direct equity investments in Africa, including in critical minerals, its regional managing director for Africa, Vibhuti Jain, has told Reuters. The DFC already has more than $14bn committed across the continent, with over $3bn of it in critical minerals.

Yinson Production has finalised an infrastructure modification agreement for the floating production storage and offloading asset operating in Ghanaian waters to expand technical capacity for domestic thermal plants.

Egypt's petroleum minister Karim Badawi and Cypriot energy minister Michael Damianos have pressed to speed up the work connecting the Cronos field to Egypt's infrastructure, after Eni and TotalEnergies took a final investment decision in July. Badawi told an East Mediterranean Gas Forum roundtable in Greece that the partnership had reached projects on the ground.

TANESCO and CRDB Bank have launched a scheme in which the bank pays the TZS27,000 connection fee for households in rural Tanzania, and urban customers can spread their connection costs in instalments. Vice President Deogratius Ndejembi attended the signing in Dar es Salaam on 2 October.

The Institute for the Regulation of Petroleum Derivatives has confirmed a 13,000 barrel per day surge in domestic crude supply to the Luanda plant, marking a significant step in Sonangol's push to curb refined product import reliance while commercial testing begins at the new Cabinda facility.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has opened its 2026 licensing round with 40 blocks onshore and offshore. Announcing it at the commission's fifth anniversary in Abuja, Commission Chief Executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan declared that the wait was over. Under rules adopted for this round, every bidder must disclose its beneficial owners.

Zambia's Energy Regulation Board was tracking 1,315MW of generation under construction in September, as ministries defended their 2027 spending plans in Lusaka this week. The medium-term plan behind that budget, published on 27 September, puts 10,000MW among its production targets, and comments on its Green Paper close on 9 October.

Senior executives from Aksa Energy's West African division have held talks with the Ghana Revenue Authority to secure a data-sharing protocol for its 370 megawatt generation pipeline.