Issue 192 - 6 August 2010
NAMIBIA
Namibia draws firms into E&P, but questions remain over licensing and middlemen
After Namibia decided to abandon licensing rounds for direct negotiation, blocks were awarded to local players who sold them on to foreign companies. Local entrepreneurs such as Knowledge Katti have built up big businesses, but with the government threatening to investigate potential abuses of the system, the way licences are obtained is under new scrutiny. John Grobler in Windhoek and Eleanor Gillespie investigate Namibia’s licensing procedures and assess prospects for E&P in the next year.
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Knowledge Katti emerges as the king of Namibian energy empowerment
New Era newspaper described black economic empowerment (BEE) entrepreneur Knowledge Katti as “one of the fastest growing [exclusive prospecting licence] EPL millionaires in the country”.
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UPC’s assets in Namibia
UPC declined to comment on its partner Acarus. Records obtained in Windhoek in late July show that Acarus directors include Eddy Shiimi, a businessman thought to be related to banker Prince Shiimi, and Office of the Founding Father deputy director John Naute
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MAP: Namibia: Prospecting licences and other hydrocarbons acreage
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Chariot seeks farm-in partner for blocks with complex history
London AIM-listed Chariot Oil and Gas has opened a data room to find a farm-in partner for its Namibian exploration and production play, exciting further market interest
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Namibia exploration is back in contention
AIM darling Chariot Oil & Gas’ strong stock market performance and commitment to serious exploration in Namibia has refocused attention on a region that has lacked the big finds of West or East Africa.
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NIGERIA
Nigerians talk up sector reform with PIB expected ‘within weeks’
The controversial Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), designed by the previous government to implement the largest energy sector shake-up in recent Nigerian history, will be passed into law by the end of August, according to petroleum minister Diezani Allison-Madueke.
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ALGERIA
As BP ponders Algerian assets, IOCs look for flexibility from the energy sector’s new top team
While Algiers tries to gain better control over Sonatrach’s operations, IOCs remain concerned that the authorities are prone to inflexibility and obsessed with outmoded concepts of national interest. It is in this complex operating environment that speculation is mounting that BP might sell its Algerian assets, write Jon Marks and John Hamilton.
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Sonelgaz bail-out shows how state solutions still predominate
Recent events at state utility Sonelgaz Holding seem to point to the limits of radical thinking on major Algerian energy sector problems.
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Sonatrach’s international operations under scrutiny
Sonatrach’s international upstream and downstream operations, which were promoted by former energy and mines minister Chakib Khelil, have come under scrutiny from the Algerian energy sector’s new management and from investigative authorities.
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LIBYA
Libya charts new course for NOC to weather the coming storm
New management, new strategy and possible new institutions are shaking up Libya’s energy sector, but first it must get over the recent lack of commercial discoveries and a number of thorny political issues
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New management at NOC
National Oil Corporation has a new management committee. The General People’s Committee (GPC – government) decided on 13 July to restructure the national company’s executive board, replacing three of its members with four newcomers, all but one of whom has virtually no public profile.
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Revised oil law enters legislative process
The much discussed rewriting of Libya’s ancient petroleum law has moved from the realm of discussion and speculation to reality with an official announcement of the procedure through which the legislation must now pass to enter statute.
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GHANA
Ghana deal in balance as government stays firm on Kosmos sale
Ghana says it has secured sufficient funds to buy Kosmos Energy’s stake in the Jubilee field for itself, which would enable it to sell the stake on to the bidder of its choice, write Thalia Griffiths and Kevin Godier
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DR CONGO
Opaque deals and administrative bullying mark DRC’s flirtation with investment pariah status
A pattern is emerging in the way big resources contracts are being reallocated to unknown companies that the authorities say meet their criteria for fit and proper partners, and whose participation will help speed ‘post-conflict’ economic reconstruction. Politics and personal gain seem to be defining features of these deals, writes Jon Marks
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SOUTH AFRICA
The South African angle
Contract developments that may pass for normal in Democratic Republic of Congo are causing concern elsewhere on the continent.
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TANZANIA
Tanzania emerges as a diversified gas play
With Songas planning a major expansion of its domestic gas-to-power operation, BG assessing the potential of its Ophir farm-in and several other deals in the works, Tanzania’s gas industry is becoming an emerging force in East Africa. Critical questions now revolve around the extent of upstream reserves and the ability of regulatory structures and other local issues to support a bigger industry, writes Jon Marks
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MAP: Tanzania's upstream potential and growing energy infrastructure
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GHANA
Tema thermal plant nears financial close as Ghana struggles with its gas policy
Financial close for the Gecad venture’s 126MW thermal plant at Tema is expected by the end of July, with commissioning envisaged for May 2011, developer Aldwych International’s project director Christian Wright told the Africa Energy Forum (AEF) in Basel on 30 June.
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MALAWI / MOZAMBIQUE
Lacking trust, Malawi pulls out of Moz link
A lack of trust between neighbours seems to have put in jeopardy what looked like a desirable cross-border transmission scheme in southern Africa, linking Malawi – which, with Tanzania, is the only Southern Africa Power Pool member not connected to its neighbours – to Mozambique.
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