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The utilities of the four-nation Organisation for the Development of the Gambia River (L’Organisation pour la mise en Valeur du Fleuve Gambie, OMVG) have signed a transmission service agreement for the 1,677km ‘Loop’ high-voltage power transmission line. The $685m development comprises 4,000 pylons and 15 substations and interconnects the grids of Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal. As its name suggests, the 225kV, double-circuit line forms a circular network spanning the four countries.

Oslo-listed PetroNor E&P has sold its interest in the Sinapa and Esperança licences to a Dubai-based subsidiary of Petromal, paving the way for a drilling campaign in Guinea-Bissau’s offshore.

Five more memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed in Rabat on 5 December, bringing more partners into the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) project.

National power utilities from Guinea, Guinea Bissau and Senegal have expressed interest in buying electricity from a planned 150MW solar park in Gambia, using the West Africa Power Pool (Wapp). The project is one of nine solar park projects envisaged in an Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) power masterplan.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has launched a tender for consultants to conduct feasibility studies on four solar photovoltaic plants to be developed near Bissau, Gabu, Cacheu and Bafata. Expression of interests are due to be submitted by 25 May.  

With its redomiciling from Australia to Norway completed at end-February, PetroNor is now looking to increase production from its African assets. However, the investigation into former chief executive Knut Søvold continues, following his arrest in December over projects in Africa.

West and central Africa-focused independent PetroNor E&P’s chief executive Knut Søvold remains under investigation by the Norwegian economic crime agency, Økokrim, after being detained in a pre-Christmas swoop related to an ongoing case concerning corruption in African projects.

The Oslo-listed indie is taking advantage of heavyweight backing from hydrocarbons powerhouses Abu Dhabi and Norway to extend its position in West and Central Africa. Drilling is planned, as is a new effort to develop Nigeria’s Aje field, writes James Gavin

Oslo-listed PetroNor E&P (formerly African Petroleum) plans to start drilling within the next year on shallow water blocks it bought in November from Svenska Petroleum Exploration Guinea Bissau, which gave it operatorship of the Sinapa (Block 2) and Esperança (Blocks 4a and 5A) licences. The positive mood follows government approval of the takeover, which gives PetroNor a 78.57% stake in the licences.

After several years of delays, development of the 15MW Bor heavy fuel oil (HFO) power plant may be commissioned next year, according to project participants. The medium-speed plant, situated in a suburb of the capital Bissau, will be the first utility-scale facility owned by the state’s Eletricidade e Águas da Guiné-Bissau (EAGB).

Oslo-listed PetroNor has announced the purchase of Svenska Petroleum Exploration Guinea Bissau, giving it operatorship of the Sinapa and Esperança licences.

TGS has announced completion of its Jaan 3D seismic survey collating over 28,000km2 of data in the MSGBC Basin offshore Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Jaan (the Wolof word for snake) is a long strip of seismic coverage consisting of more than 12,000km2 of new data plus recently reprocessed surveys designed to map the Cretaceous Palaeo shelf-edge trend in an area that has seen a number of recent discoveries.

The government has temporarily suspended the management contract for Electricidade e Aguas da Guiné-Bissau (EAGB) held by a Portuguese consortium after the management team pulled out of Bissau because of coronavirus.The suspension took effect from 1 June. The World Bank, which awarded the three-year contract in November 2018 following an international tender, said the government had appointed an interim management board which would ensure continuity of service until the consortium could return to Bissau.

The Lomé-based African Biofuel & Renewable Energy Company (Abrec) has awarded a contract to Sinohydro to build a 20MWp solar plant at Gardete, 8km from Bissau, as well as a 30kV connection to the Bôr substation. Abrec said six eligible bids were received in an international tender that closed in May last year.Work is expected to take 16 months.

The Organisation for the Development of the Gambia River (OMVG) has given a contract to a joint venture of Portugal’s COBA Consultores de Engenharia e Ambiete and the Portuguese subsidiary of France’s Artelia Eau & Environnement to carry out feasibility and detailed engineering studies for a 20MW run-of-river hydropower plant on the Corubal River in the Saltinho area of central Guinea-Bissau.