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Sample PDFs
Issue 130, 14 January 2008
Issue 121, 7 September 2007
Issue 109, 23 February 2007
High-resolution map samples
Please note the sample high-resolution maps below have all subsequently been updated and coloured. The most recent high-resolution versions of these maps are only available to subscribers. Low-resolution versions can be viewed at the African Energy map library.
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Angola’s offshore oil industry – November 2006 (issue 104)
Sudan’s growing oil industry – October 2006 (issue 103)
Morocco: Oil industry, electricity grid and other key infrastructure – August 2006 (issue 101)
Sample Articles
Focus • Power • Upstream oil & gas • Downstream hydrocarbons & markets
Finance & policy • African Energy View
Please note that some articles contain low resolution map previews. Higher resolution versions of these maps are not available to non-subscribers. If you would like to see the size and scope of our large maps, please use the section above where samples are available.
Libya: big opportunities, tough market – then there’s the politics
Concern that BP’s mega gas exploration and development deal may be delayed by the apparently never ending Lockerbie affair adds to the view that success in the Libyan hydrocarbons sector is hard to achieve, even for the biggest, best-supported operations in the business, writes
John Hamilton.
Chinese ‘Marshall plan’ taps into DR Congo’s resource base
China’s $5.5bn roads-for-minerals deal seems to offer a lifeline to Joseph Kabila’s cash-strapped government, and the shock news is that there will be much more to come as Beijing takes over the DRC president’s ‘cinq chantiers’, writes Jon Marks in Kinshasa.
Egypt’s policy reforms essential to complement upstream drive
It may not play well on the Arab street, but Egypt’s new energy pricing policy holds the potential to further stimulate industry development ahead of three new bid rounds and some very expensive E&P investment, needed to maintain the oil and gas export boom, writes Nadine Marroushi in Cairo.
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.
Ethiopian hydro aims to power millennial nation & wider region
Ethiopia has ambitious plans to develop its hydro potential to power its own soaring demand and play a leading role in a planned regional grid. Officials argue that they can supply the region without adverse effects on water supply to neighbours downstream, writes Thalia Griffiths in Addis Ababa.
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.
IPPs in the works to tackle Ghana’s power crisis.
With water levels in Lake Volta at their lowest for more than 20 years, the government is under fire over its management of the energy crisis, but help is at hand from the private sector.
South Africa banks on coal and nuclear.
South Africa is turning to its big twin guns of coal and nuclear to stop southern Africa being ravaged by power cuts in the next decade.
After years of delay the World Bank backs costly Bujagali HDP, but fails to quiet the protests
By mobilising support from several agencies, the World Bank has made a strong gesture of support for Uganda’s long-delayed HDP dam project – which has not been welcomed by Bujagali’s critics. But while the project remains mired in controversy, there is no doubt that Uganda needs more power, writes Thalia Griffiths.
Ambitious plans in Egypt form core of Centurion’s strategic thinking
Centurion Petroleum Corporation plans significant investments in Egypt in 2008 with the aim of finding enough gas for LNG exports. It also hopes to expand its position in a market that has become the main lifeline for parent company Dana Gas, writes Nadine Marroushi
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
Value chain full of opportunities in Libyan round
NOC wants to bring in partners with a range of skills – and markets – at their disposal, writes John Hamilton.
Powerful friends and big opportunities for Angola’s new generation indies
OPEC’s newest member has seen the proliferation of a well-connected group of local juniors, all eager to participate in upcoming licensing rounds. But while the new Angolan indies’ names are becoming more familiar they remain a notably opaque bunch, writes Eleanor Gillespie.
Tullow Oil plans focus on previously unfashionable frontiers Ghana and Uganda
The Irish company is raising its spending to fund the apparently happy consequences of its recent success with the drillbit in previously unfashionable Ghana and Uganda.
It’s not easy going as DRC investors look to peace dividend, but IOCs could yet make progress
The defeat of Jean-Pierre Bemba has strengthened President Joseph Kabila’s position, but has done little to boost business confidence. Investors are looking to see how the government will handle the minerals contracts concluded under previous administrations, but at least hydrocarbons agreements seem less controversial than mining deals, writes François Misser.
| Downstream hydrocarbons & markets: |
Projects line up, but no end in sight to Nigerian refining woes
With the first attempt at privatisation ending in disarray and the Bureau for Private Enterprises facing reorganisation, prospects look bleak for the divestment of Nigeria’s oil refineries, seen as essential to end chronic fuel shortages. On the plus side, a number of new projects are on the table, and although by no means all will see the light of day a few are making real progress, writes Leonard Lawal
Refinery project revives Ivorian dreams of ‘Rotterdam of Africa’
Côte d’Ivoire is hoping to revive its dream of becoming a major regional hub following a deal with US companies to develop a new 60,000 b/d refinery and products storage facility in Abidjan.
Delays on shape and details of Kudu GTP jangle nerves in Namibia
The upstream group led by Tullow Oil has started the latest phase of appraisal drilling, but delays in putting together this complex GTP project are again putting the Kudu scheme’s viability into question.
Morocco works up LNG and other gas plans
Confronted by a looming power supply deficit, Morocco is finalising its plans for a regasification plant, and is even mooting a gas-to-power project in Mauritania, writes Jon Marks in Marrakech.
Egypt still far from matching is global LNG business development with credible domestic reform.
Buoyed up by revenues from the expanding export LNG trade, Egypt’s government still faces a daunting challenge as it seeks to further reform the economy while also meeting rising development costs and local demand. Cuts to Egypt’s lavish subsidy regime are expected, but bringing rationality to the domestic fuel sector remains a thorny political issue, writes Nadine Marroushi, recently in Cairo.
Good month for Khelil as Algerian minister keeps the analysts guessing
Chakib Khelil will resume the OPEC presidency feeling more comfortable at home than he has for several years, writes Jon Marks with our Algiers Correspondent.
UK High Court throws out Sassou Nguesso case
A London court has struck a blow in favour of campaigners fighting for more transparency in the way oil producers use their funds.
Carbon credits offer huge potential, but not yet a significant flow of funds for most countries.
Africa is maintaining but not increasing its small share of a carbon finance market that the UN predicts could reach $100bn/yr by 2050.
Improved perceptions boost export financiers
The majority of African markets are still seen as ‘difficult’ by the analysts who influence the cost that exporters and their clients must pay for trade and project finance, but perceptions of risk have softened considerably over the past decade helping to reduce transaction costs and make projects possible, writes Kevin Godier.
Indies begin to tweak Angolan financing template as Sonangol continues to tap markets at lower margins.
Some smaller independents are on the verge of carving out a new E&P borrowing template for Angola, while Sonangol is trying to break with its ‘government banker’ image, international bankers told Kevin Godier.
Cash call phase-out opens Nigerian borrowing conundrum
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.
Can biomass-dependent Africa afford not to go green?
Two questions can be asked simultaneously about the development of energy capacity in Africa. Can developers afford to use modern, efficient, environmentally friendly technologies? And can they afford not to?
Resource nationalism and flawed bidding: why Gassi Touil failed
Sonatrach’s decision to rescind the contract awarded to Spain’s Repsol YPF and Gas Natural (GN) to develop the massive Gassi Touil-Rhourde Nouss QH LNG Integrated Project was taken by many commentators as another expression of the growing world-wide‘resource nationalism’.
Global markets turmoil will test depth of bulge bracket entry.
It has seemed to be a marriage made in heaven, albeit between two unlikely partners. Sub-Saharan Africa needs money. Meanwhile bulge bracket banks and other global investors have been looking for new investment plays that offer the potential for big margins and fees at less risk than might at first seem apparent.
AfDB can help to raise impact, reduce hype of infrastructure funds
The African Development Bank is sharpening up its act under president Donald Kaberuka, showing renewed interest at its annual meetings in Shanghai this week in both infrastructure development and supporting fragile resources producers, as well as such hot policy issues as further strengthening China-Africa links.
Focus • Power • Upstream oil & gas • Downstream hydrocarbons & markets
Finance & policy • African Energy View
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