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Despite rising electricity demand in southern Africa, developing the Kudu gasfield to feed a regional generation scheme remains a distant hope.

Chevron subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company has given Sapura Energy Angola a contract for the provision of the semi-submersible tender-assisted drilling rig Sapura Jaya. The contract covers provision of the rig and drilling services for two years starting in Q2 2020, with a further two possible six-month extensions. Chevron operates Block 0 offshore Cabinda, which contains the Mafumeira field development, and Block 14, which lies west from Block 0.

Pharos Energy, the former SOCO International, has abandoned plans to acquire Royal Dutch Shell’s upstream assets in the Western Desert. Pharos said on 6 March it was evaluating the acquisition as part of a consortium.

Kenya and Ethiopia are reviewing an agreement signed in January 2012 for Kenya to buy 400MW of hydropower from Ethiopia. Implementation has been hit by delays in completing the 1,045km interconnection line.“We’re currently in negotiations with Ethiopia on revising the PPA [power purchase agreement]. Details will be provided later on once we finalise,” Kenya Power acting managing director Jared Othieno told African Energy.The 2012 agreement obliges Kenya Power to buy 400MW at a fixed tariff of $0.07/kWh for onward sale to homes and businesses in Kenya.

Prequalification is under way for a 19.65MWp solar PV and battery system for the Blanket gold mine in Gwanda operated by Caledonia Mining Corporation. The system will hybridise with existing diesel generators with combined capacity of 18.4MW. It will be located on a 40ha site connecting at 33kV and may include a storage system with up to 5MVA capacity. Development will be over three 6.55MW phases, with the first two phases implemented in parallel.

The World Bank has approved a loan and partial risk guarantee (PRG) for the Taiba Ndiaye private power project being developed by a subsidiary of Lebanon’s Matelec Group (AE 221/6). The $166m project involves the construction and operation of a greenfield thermal power plant with installed capacity of 96MW and guaranteed capacity of 70MW, to be developed by Tobene Power, a special purpose vehicle incorporated in December 2011. It will be owned 90% by Matelec subsidiary Melec PowerGen Services and 10% by the International Finance Corporation’s IFC InfraVentures. The plant is due on line in mid-2015, to replace existing temporary thermal power.

Algiers’ push for greater ownership of strategic projects looks likely to scupper TNK-BP’s bid for the UK supermajor’s In Salah and In Amenas assets.

In a ceremony timed to coincide with celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Uganda’s independence, President Yoweri Museveni and the Aga Khan formally inaugurated the Bujagali dam on 8 October.

Finland’s Wärtsilä announced on 29 July that it will supply two 34SG engines with combined capacity of 19MW to the Borg El Arab gas power plant, owned and operated by Kahraba, part of Egypt Kuwait Holding, one of the largest private electricity service providers in Egypt. The order was placed in June. The existing plant comprises three Wärtsilä 34SG engines with combined capacity of around 9MW. The new equipment will be delivered to the site in January 2020, with operations expected towards the end of the year.

Investment in power vehicle; Kindaruma rehab, expansion tender; KenGen to raise $188m

The Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS) signed a contract with Sinohydro on 26 February to develop the 294MW Koukoutamba hydroelectric project in northern Guinea. Sinohydro will build the $812m project, located in the department of Tougué, in the Labé region, on the Bafing River about 7.5km upstream of its confluence with the Senegal River, under an engineering, procurement and construction contract financed by the Export-Import Bank of China. Construction is expected to begin before the end of H1 2019, and take four years, according to project manager Bouya Condé.

Golar LNG has said upstream operator Perenco is planning for a drilling campaign in the Kribi area to prove up more reserves during 2020. If successful, this could lead to further capacity utilisation and/or contract extension for the FLNG Hilli Episeyo, Golar said in its Q3 results.

President Ernest Bai Koroma is seeking another term in November’s elections in the face of fierce opposition from the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), whose candidate is the former military leader Julius Maada Bio. The SLPP has said it will re-examine and possibly renegotiate all oil and mining contracts if it is elected

Recession and a potential public health crisis will test Nigeria’s social cohesion and fragile health system as the oil-dependent economy struggles with falling demand and sharply lower crude prices. Net oil revenue is expected to slump to $11bn this year from $45bn in 2019, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA). “Producer economies have not fully recovered from the previous price collapse in 2014,” the IEA said. “In many ways, Nigeria is less prepared to deal with a price shock than it was five years ago.”

A request for proposals is scheduled to be issued in Q3 to prequalified engineering, procurement and construction contractors to build the 180MW Ngonye Falls hydropower plant on the Zambezi River. Prequalification for the project got under way last year. The tender comes despite uncertainty about the direction of the power sector in the country, with national utility Zesco taking on ever more debt and the government picking a fight with the Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Zesco’s most reliable source of income.