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Installation of turbines at the Aftissat wind project in Boujdour, in the north of the Moroccan-controlled disputed territory of Western Sahara, is about one-third complete, project sources have told African Energy. The extension will add 200MW of capacity to the 201.6MW already in place.

Israel’s NewMed Energy and Moroccan privately-held Adarco Energy have signed a deal with the state Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) to carry out oil and gas exploration in the offshore Boujdour Atlantique licence area, in waters that form part of the disputed Western Sahara.

What is believed to be the first shipment of phosphate rock from Western Sahara to Israel docked at Ashdod port on 29 March, on board the bulk carrier Keremcan Oba. It is not clear who the buyer is. While the shipment is thought to have involved a relatively small cargo of around 5,000 tonnes, it is a further sign of rapidly-evolving economic and diplomatic links between the two countries.

Supporters of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara have described it as an act of realism which places Madrid at the top table of decision-makers. However, for other observers, the decision is puzzling.

Thanks to a combination of high solar radiation and superlative wind resources, the massive, largely desert zone along north-west Africa’s Atlantic coast has become a focus for huge projects in what is starting to look like a new scramble for Africa. Recent developments include Chariot and Total Eren positioning themselves to take advantage of the emerging business opportunity in the production of green hydrogen in Morocco and Mauritania. This follows close on the footsteps of CWP Global and Xlinks. Others such as Harmattan Energy are looking at the disputed Western Sahara (under a UN mandate). As the number of prospective schemes grows, so too will the pressure to secure land rights and authorisations – a familiar issue for businesses with long track records in securing upstream and mineral rights across the continent.

As the hype around hydrogen gets ever louder, governments and developers are putting forward grandiose plans to manufacture green hydrogen – ‘the new oil and gas’ – across the continent. African Energy has been sceptical about the hydrogen boom’s relevance to economies that are hard pressed to finance basic needs, but high hopes are being generated in countries like Mauritania and Namibia, where schemes to install an unimaginable 65GW of hydrogen-driven capacity are promised, writes John Hamilton.

The impact of structural reform and the energy transition is markedly different around the continent. North Africa experienced a sharp – if probably temporary – slowdown in the growth of renewables last year, when the Maghreb and Egypt accounted for 4.3GW of the 7.7GW added on the continent, including 3.1GW of new gas capacity. 

The Irish government has decided there are sufficient grounds to proceed with a complaint against San Leon Energy over its past activities in the onshore Tarfaya and Zag licence areas in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), an Irish NGO, filed a complaint in October 2018 claiming San Leon was not complying with a number of guidelines for multinational companies set out by the OECD, specifically the principle of meaningful engagement with stakeholders – in this case the Sahrawi people – and the principle of respect for internationally recognised human rights.

Renewable power project developers could be among the main beneficiaries of outgoing US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, providing Washington uses the decision to unlock concessionary funding. However, many investors will remain wary of piling funds into oil and other projects while the UN-led decolonisation process remains in limbo, writes John Hamilton.

Moroccan operations to end a blockade by the Polisario Front of the border with Mauritania have flared into a shooting match that ends nearly three decades of UN-monitored ceasefire in the disputed Western Sahara.  Both sides have previously held back while the UN and African Union debated the former Spanish colony’s future without finding a definitive settlement.

Tower Resources has completed the sale of its Comet Petroleum subsidiary to Frederik Dekker’s Red Rio Petroleum. Red Rio is purchasing Comet for a cash consideration of £1, future contingent payments and a royalty interest of 10% over future production revenue from Comet’s three blocks in the disputed Western Sahara.Dekker is a longstanding promoter of the hydrocarbons potential of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Last year, his Hague and London Oil (Halo) acquired Premier Oil’s assets in the territory (AE 327/12).