Algeria's Energy Future was launched at a half-day round-table seminar at Chatham House, London, on Wednesday 6 April.
The report was presented at the seminar by its lead authors, Jon Marks and John Hamilton, and critically assessed by Algerian and international experts. Read more
The African Energy Atlas has established itself as an indispensable resource for energy industry professionals.
The 2011 edition features more than 45 maps and charts drawn with expert care by journalist cartographer David Burles. Read more
Briefings and Reports 2
AfricaHardball is an executive dialogue that brings together policy-makers, industry leaders and analysts to discuss the key political issues affecting African markets in frank and open terms.
The next AfricaHardball roundtable will be held on 1 December in London, focusing on North Africa Read more
Briefings and Reports 3
A detailed and frank analysis of Libya’s energy sector
Published in July 2010, Libya's Energy Future provides authoritative, independently sourced analysis of Libya’s energy sector policy and history, examines the country’s governance and financial record and assesses the potential for international partners to do business with its institutions and interest groups.
A planned new supply and pricing regulatory framework will require gas producers to set aside a portion of their output for the domestic market, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua said on 26 November. The plan is part of a broader gas sector reform programme, which aims to improve infrastructure, clarify the legal framework and shift the focus from exports to domestic consumption. Issue 127, 30 November 2007.more
Consortium assessing feasibility of building $8bn LNG plant
Athens-based Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), UK gas and electricity retailer Centrica, and merged Norwegian giant StatoilHydro are conducting a feasibility study to build an $8bn liquefied natural gas plant in Akwa Ibom state, it has emerged. Issue 127, 30 November 2007.more
New partnership for Aje field
A new partnership has been formed to explore and develop the Aje field on OML113. Operator Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company (YFP) will work with Chevron and Vitol, as well as existing partners Providence Resources and Energy Equity Resources. Issue 126, 16 November 2007.more
NNPC to take charge of its own destiny
Reforms planned for Nigeria’s petroleum industry aim to enable the country to play a full role in developing its own oil and gas potential, according to Department of Petroleum Resources director Tony Chukwueke – whose own department is slated to go as President Umara Musa Yar’Adua’s reform programme unfolds. Issue 126, 16 November 2007.more
New LNG consortium lines up
UK gas and electricity retailer Centrica, merged Norwegian giant StatoilHydro and Consolidated Contractors Company have signed a memorandum of understanding for participation in a consortium to assess the feasibility of developing LNG projects in Nigeria. Issue 126, 16 November 2007.more
As the federal government works to push ahead with the restructuring of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), President Umaru Yar’Adua made headlines in early November by confirming that Abuja planned to review its contracts with the five multinationals who produce the bulk of Nigerian oil – Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and Agip – and to stop the current system of cash call payments (AE 125/4). But hopes that commercial bank loans might supplant the cash call system for Nigeria’s oil industry are probably premature, according to bankers canvassed by African Energy. Issue 126, 16 November 2007.more
Yar’Adua tested by oil dossier, the outcomes are far from certain for Nigeria’s oil industry
Plans to revise oil contracts and the priorities given to gas supplies, controversy over equity crude liftings and debate over the extent that President Yar’Adua can escape the shadow of his predecessor. The Yar’Adua presidency is slowly taking shape, but ambiguous signals coming from Abuja leave more questions to be asked than the answers already available about Nigeria’s future direction, write Jon Marks and Our Gulf of Guinea Correspondent. Issue 125, 2 November 2007.more
Pointers – Hyundai, Rockson in co-operation deal; New hydro for Kano
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) wants prequalification applications by 4 December for the rehabilitation of the 760MW Kainji hydropower plant on the Niger River. Issue 124, 19 October 2007.more
ExxonMobil pulls out of JDZ B1, Addax pays to consolidate
Apparently confirming that the most eagerly sought after block in the Nigeria/São Tomé Joint Development Zone may not be the potential elephant field so many companies suspected when the JDZ adventure was launched, ExxonMobil has pulled out of Block 1, selling its 40% stake to Addax Petroleum. Issue 123, 5 October 2007.more
First Nigerian IPP heads for financial close, confirming bankable market’s emergence
With a first independent power project set to reach financial close in coming months, investment bulls will have more confirmation that Nigeria is the sub-Saharan market to watch for international banks and fast-emerging Lagos-based institutions, writes Kevin Godier, recently in Abuja and Lagos. Issue 122, 21 September 2007.more
Pipeline mooted for EGLNG link
Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea are discussing the possible construction of a 100km pipeline to deliver gas for the Equatorial Guinea LNG project. Issue 122, 21 September 2007.more
Yar’Adua starts Nigerian clean-up with the oil ministry
His mandate put into question by flawed elections, Umaru Yar’Adua has extra impetus to show that his administration can implement genuine reforms – and by announcing the much-anticipated restructuring of NNPC, the low-key president is starting to build a reformist track record in exactly the right place. Issues 120 and 121, 7 September 2007.more
French farm into Chevron deep-water block
French major Total’s Elf Petroleum Nigeria subsidiary has finalised the acquisition of a 36% interest in Chevron’s deep offshore OPL 247, which lies around 150km offshore south-east Nigeria in water depths of 1,000 to 1,500 metres, near Total’s main deep offshore operations. Issues 120 and 121, 7 September 2007.more
Offor quits ERHC for biofuels
Troubled São Tomé e Principé/Nigeria Joint Development Zone (JDZ) player ERHC Energy says it has accepted Nigerian businessman Sir Emeka Offor’s resignation as chairman and is revising its business plan to look at opportunities beyond the Gulf of Guinea. Issues 120 and 121, 7 September 2007.more
Equator merger talks collapse
Equator Exploration’s planned merger with Camac Energy Holdings, part of Houston-based Camac International, has collapsed (AE 117/10). Equator said it had been unable to produce an admission document for London’s Alternative Investment Market in time. Issues 120 and 121, 7 September 2007.more
Total farms into gas block
Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd (EPNL) has increased its upstream gas portfolio by signing an agreement with the local Conoil Producing Ltd to acquire a 40% interest in offshore OML 136. Issues 120 and 121, 7 September 2007.more
Nigerian corporates emerge as a focus for banks
It is not only in the booming export gas industry that Nigerian borrowers have taken the market by storm during this year, following improvements to the country’s credit profile due to the volume of petrodollars flowing in, falling inflation, lower external debt following a generous restructuring and the beneficial effects of banking and trade policy reform. Issues 120 and 121, 7 September 2007.more
Lagos banks emerge as attractive partners
The pattern was set when Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) issued a E350m ($477.2m) Eurobond in February (AE 108/20). “Two years ago a Nigerian financial institution would have been unable to borrow against its balance sheet,” managing director Tayo Aderinokun commented.
GTB has since moved further forward at pace. Issues 120 and 121, 7 September 2007.more
Dangote pulls out of refineries privatisation deal
Bluestar Oil Consortium has pulled out of controversial privatisation deals for the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries signed in the final days of Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency. Issue 119, 27 July 2007.more
Another Nigerian clean-up beckons as Willbros scandal spreads
A former employee of US-based oil services company Willbros has been indicted on corruption charges in Texas in a case also involving some of Nigeria’s biggest international energy ventures that could have far-reaching consequences for the notoriously venal oil sector. Issue 119, 27 July 2007.more
Pointers – Total launches Ofon Phase 2; Addax oil & gas find on OML 137; Pioneer pulls out of Nigeria; Afren to develop Eremor field
Privatisation evaluation by end-July, RFPs by September
With some 416 expressions of interest in Power Holding Company of Nigeria’s generation and distribution companies submitted by the 9 March closing date, evaluation has taken longer than expected. Issue 118, 13 July 2007.more
Oriental farms into Ebok field
The government has approved a farm-in by Oriental Energy Resources into the Ebok marginal field in Mobil’s OML 67, as compensation for acreage lost in the 2000 maritime border agreement between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Issue 118, 13 July 2007.more
Nigeria kept guessing over shape of Yar’Adua’s administration
Following deeply flawed elections, the new president’s protracted government formation is creating further doubt about Nigeria’s ability to underpin economic reform with a credible policy platform and governance. Yar’Adua must show he can control corrupt power-brokers and rebuild the Niger Delta if sceptics are to be won over. Issue 117, 29 June 2007.more
View from Abuja: Yar’Adua seeks political consolidation
As he manoeuvres to stamp his mark on Nigeria’s complex and chaotic political environment, new President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua must consolidate his authority in Abuja – setting out to prove he is more than a cipher for former president Olusegun Obasanjo. Issue 117, 29 June 2007.more
Nigerian regulator licenses new IPPs
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (Nerc) licensed five new independent power projects on 19 June and said private power producers would generate 8,237MW by 2010. Issue 117, 29 June 2007.more
Equator scores Camac merger
Wade Cherwayko’s Equator Exploration has announced a merger with Camac Energy Holdings, part of Houston-based Camac International (AE 114/12). Camac is owned by the Nigerian-born businessman Kase Lawal. Issue 117, 29 June 2007.more
Government revalidates refinery construction licence
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has issued a revalidated refinery construction licence to Amakpe International Refineries Nigeria Ltd. Issue 117, 29 June 2007.more
Better news from Niger Delta
Lifting of Eni’s force majeure at Brass, restoration of some of Shell’s production and a project management contract for Brass LNG have combined to give a slightly more hopeful picture from the troubled Niger Delta. Issue 116, 15 June 2007.more
May violence shuts in more Delta production
A flare-up in militant violence in the Niger Delta ahead of the inauguration of new President Umaru Yar’Adua has dealt a sharp blow to oil production from the troubled region. Issue 115, 1 June 2007.more
Korean, Indian deals
Korea Electric Power Corporation has bid $280m for a 51% in the 1,320MW Egbin power station near Lagos. Issue 115, 1 June 2007.more
Bluestar wins Port Harcourt refinery privatisation
The Bluestar consortium has emerged as preferred bidder for Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), with a $561m bid. Issue 115, 1 June 2007.more
As trio bid to run Nigerian grid, new administration expected to push transmission projects
Outgoing President Obasanjo is ‘inaugurating’ favoured gas projects, but the incoming administration’s initial focus is likely to be on making bedrock electricity schemes work, senior officials have told African Energy correspondents. Issue 114, 18 May 2007.more
IOCs stay away from Nigerian fire sale
As militant activity in the Niger Delta increased ahead of the 29 May presidential handover, major oil companies stayed away from Nigeria’s licensing round. Issue 114, 18 May 2007.more
When it was good, reforming finances and building a global-scale LNG industry, it was very good. But the manner of President Obasanjo’s departure means his chosen successor faces a very tough job, writes Jon Marks. Issue 113, 4 May 2007.more
Omotosho commissioned
Outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo has been spending the last weeks of his presidency inaugurating power plants. Issue 113, 4 May 2007.more
FEED award for next NLNG phase
The TSKJ joint venture of Technip, Snamprogetti, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) and JGC Corporation have received a contact from Nigeria LNG Ltd to prepare project specifications and front-end engineering and design for two new 8.5m t/yr LNG trains known as the NLNGSevenPlus project. Issue 113, 4 May 2007.more
African refiners fear looming competition
Africa’s refiners are getting edgy as Middle East and Indian competitors prepare to unleash a wave of petroleum products into the continent. Issue 112, 20 April 2007.more
Nigeria’s licensing round confusion the least of its problems
There was a consensus that, for all the electoral process’s deep faults, Nigerians would shrug their shoulders and ‘move on’, with a new range of political challenges and the issues of day-to-day living to preoccupy them. But the authorities’ inability to hold anything like credible gubernatorial and Senate elections on 14 April, compounded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s staggering public complacency about the holding of the first weekend of polling, led to a marked rise in tensions ahead of the 21 April presidential elections. Issue 112, 20 April 2007.more
Daukoru pushes pre-handover round, politicians not convinced
Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru told journalists at an OPEC meeting that he remained confident Nigeria would still be able to complete a 30-block licensing round before the current administration’s mandate expires on 29 May (AE 106/5). Issue 111, 23 March 2007.more
Geregu inaugurated, Mambilla awarded, as NIPP moves ahead
President Olusegun Obasanjo has inaugurated the Geregu gas turbine power plant at Lokoja in Kogi State, adding 414MW to the national grid and marking further progress for the National Integrated Power Project, which aims to increase capacity to 10,000MW by year-end. Issue 110, 8 March 2007.more
Niger Delta: chronology of a persistent crisis
With over 600,000 b/d of oil production shut in due to MEND and other violence, the Niger Delta remains in a state of crisis that the incoming Nigerian president, expected to replace Olusegun Obasanjo in late May, will be hard-pressed to cope with. The panic and politicking that surrounded rumours that leading candidate Umaru Yar’Adua was dead point to a heated situation, that ‘big men’ politicians will seek to exploit further. Issue 110, 8 March 2007.more
JDZ drilling plans
Operators Addax Petroleum and Sinopec have secured the Aban Abraham deep-water drillship to drill in H2 2008. It will drill up to ten wells in total, shared across the blocks operated by Addax and Sinopec. Issue 110, 8 March 2007.more
IFC steps boldly into Niger Delta petrochemicals
The International Finance Corporation’s $155m facility for Eleme Petrochemical Company points to the range of support now available for Nigerian projects – and the efforts necessary to ‘empower’ local communities that are being written into deal structures, writes Kevin Godier. Issue 110, 8 March 2007.more
Nigerian disco bids extended as elections beckon, but privatisation team remains bullish
With Nigeria exciting more interest from international investors than would have seemed possible not long ago, the government’s advisors believe that, despite a slow start to attempts to privatise the electricity distribution network and generation plants, the divestment of assets and consequent hike in private investment can be made to work. Issue 109, 23 February 2007.more
Nigerian elections: austere political traditions mark the Yar-Adua and Buhari camps
The successor to President Olusegun Obasanjo could take Nigeria down a more resource nationalist path, according to African Energy’s soundings of the main contenders’ camps in arguably Africa’s biggest political event of the year. Issue 109, 23 February 2007.more
Nigeria could be in for some post-election resource nationalism
Barring a last-minute change of mind by President Olusegun Obasanjo – which cannot be ruled out – Nigeria will have a new government from 29 May. Whoever wins, including Obansanjo’s chosen candidate Umaru Yar’Adua, a significant shift in policy direction is likely; judging from the signals issuing from the rival camps, Abuja might follow a more resource nationalist path than has been apparent during the Obasanjo years – although the extent to which the policy shift will actually be radical rather than rhetorical is open to considerable debate. Issue 109, 23 February 2007.more
Leaving politics aside, clean money flows into the ‘new Nigeria’
Get Nigeria right, the conventional wisdom has long gone, and the rest of Africa will follow. With grim news still spewing out of the Niger Delta, and many analysts deeply concerned about the upcoming presidential elections’ likely (negative) impact on stability, the state of Nigeria is far from right – and yet markets can take comfort from some very promising signs that it is on the right economic path. Indeed, the continent’s most populous nation seems to be flavour of the month, as more international banks look to expand their sub-Saharan operations (AE 107/3). Issue 108, 7 February 2007.more
Call for EOIs for discos, generation plants
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is gearing up for power privatisation with invitations for expressions of interest in distribution companies and three big thermal power stations. Issue 107, 26 January 2007.more
NNPC sets template creating fund to boost local content
The drive by African governments to persuade international oil companies to use more local content in their oil and gas projects was a defining theme in 2006. In an important move, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has established a four-year, $350m fund to assist Nigerian oil services companies in their bids to win more domestic contracts. Issue 106, January 2007.more
Delta crisis and big man power plays cloud outlook for Nigeria
IOCs are playing down the withdrawal of expatriates from Port Harcourt, but privately executives wonder about the sustainability of operations in one of the world’s fastest growing hydrocarbons industries. Ruthless political manoeuvring ahead of presidential elections can but add to the crisis, Our Nigeria Correspondent writes. Issue 106, January 2007.more
Some 60 blocks to be offered in 2007
Hopefully leaving its political battles behind it, the Nigerian government’s Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) is planning to go ahead with the auction of a further 60 blocks this year, mostly on production-sharing contract (PSC) terms that have been tightened to the extent that most major IOCs have shown little interest. Issue 106, January 2007.more
Chevron issues Epic tenders for Olokola supply project
Chevron Nigeria has invited companies to prequalify for an engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning contract for two gas production complexes and five wellhead platforms for the Olokola gas supply (OKGS) facilities offshore Delta and Bayelsa states (AE 104/35). Issue 106, January 2007.more
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