Author: Bruno Kabasele

Historic Signature in Brazzaville The signing ceremony held in Brazzaville in August gathered Congo’s Minister of Hydrocarbons Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, Minister of State Jean-Jacques Bouya and Wing Wah Chairman Xiao Lianping in a carefully choreographed event that underscored the Republic of Congo’s intent to move decisively up the energy value chain. At stake is a portfolio of onshore permits—Banga Kayo, Holmoni and Cayo—whose integrated development is now backed by a financial envelope of US$23 billion. According to the joint communiqué issued after the ceremony, the pact aspires to elevate national crude output to 200 000 barrels per day by 2030,…

Continental ambition meets political will In the polished conference rooms of Addis Ababa, the African Single Electricity Market moved from concept note to construction blueprint. African Union energy officials, buoyed by Ethiopia’s successful synchronisation with Sudan and Djibouti, declared that a continental grid no longer belongs to the vocabulary of pledges but of procurement. The language of megawatts, interconnectors and tariff alignment dominated the summit, yet behind the technical minutiae lurked a recognisably geopolitical narrative: electricity as a signature instrument of African integration. For the first time, delegates spoke not simply of filling generation deficits but of crafting a common…

Brazzaville charts an orderly departure from oil dependency In the corridors of the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, officials often evoke the mantra that “oil built the nation, gas will modernise it, and renewables will sustain it”. The government’s 2024–2035 energy plan, released in January and endorsed in principle by President Denis Sassou Nguesso, envisions a gradual reallocation of fiscal revenues from mature offshore oil fields toward associated-gas valorisation, solar micro-grids in remote départements and the rehabilitation of the Inga-Congo interconnection. According to the International Energy Agency, Congo possesses more than 200 billion cubic metres of proven gas reserves, much of it…