Middle East Shipping Shock: Oil routes are getting longer and costlier as attacks around Hormuz and the Red Sea push exporters toward pipelines and alternative ports, but even those backups are under pressure—Saudi’s East-West pipeline was temporarily shut after a drone attack, while tanker rates hit record highs. Fuel Price Pressure: South Africa is bracing for another October petrol and diesel jump, with preliminary Central Energy Fund figures suggesting petrol could rise by about R2+ a litre and diesel by roughly R1.7–R2.1. Dangote IPO Moment: Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery kicked off its landmark IPO, aiming to raise about N2.15tn and potentially lift Aliko Dangote’s wealth by $23bn, as the refinery expands capacity and looks to extend into Kenya. West Africa Upstream Cooperation: Ghana and Uganda are deepening upstream petroleum ties through regulator peer learning on governance, regulation, operations, and local content. Uganda Oil Progress: Uganda is edging closer to commercial oil production as the China-aided Kingfisher field nears completion, with pricing of its first Pearl Sweet crude cargo set against Dated Brent. Energy Security via Renewables: South Africa’s Nelson Mandela University plans to source about 80% of power from renewables via a 10-year deal with Etana Energy plus new solar generation. Africa Food Resilience: At the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, governments urged scaling irrigation—only about 5% of arable land is irrigated—warning El Niño-linked drought could worsen hunger.