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China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is building a 311km pipeline to carry crude from the Ronier and Mimosa fields in the Chari-Baguirmi region south of the capital to N’djamena’s new refinery.

Gulf Of Guinea Commission meeting; China Development Bank opens Egypt office; Liberia EITI compliant; Botswana ONDD downgrade

Having lifted force majeure, BP has started preparations to resume exploration (AE 232/1). Algeria’s Sonatrach also plans to restart exploration soon.

Impact investment fund Vital Capital has acquired a 50% stake in the 35MW Orpower Twenty Two geothermal project at the Menengai complex, where financial close is expected in September this year. Vital Capital is already an investor alongside Orpower co-owner Symbion Power LLC in other ventures. The third owner of Orpower is Kenya’s Civicon.The fund’s owners acquired the stake after Israel’s Ormat Technologies gave notice of its intention to leave the project in mid-2018.

The Energy Regulatory Commission has given its approval for the Amu Power consortium’s planned 1GW supercritical coal-fired power plant in Lamu. Critics have raised questions over the environmental impact of the project, and whether the power is needed (AE 332/8). The commission said in a legal notice published in Kenyan newspapers that it had reviewed submissions on the project and was satisfied that all environmental concerns would be handled adequately.

Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) has relaunched a tender to import gas which it first announced in December. The decision, announced on 10 March, recognises that the first attempt was a failure as it contained too many inconsistencies to be workable. Imports are needed because Egypt’s power sector is short of gas, causing a supply crisis in late 2012, but the country still has to meet its export commitments.

Water supply and sanitation agency Office National de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement (ONEA) invites bids by 30 November for the supply and installation of solar photovoltaic plants at its facilities in the north and centre-north of the country. The tender notice covers a firm order for five plants of an unspecified capacity at the Station SP2 in Ziga, as well as its sites in Ouahigouya, Boulsa, Bogandé and Gourcy, and optional orders for systems at Léguema and at ONEA’s headquarters in Ouagadougou.

Standard Bank Group and its Kenyan subsidiary CfC Stanbic Bank have signed a $150m financing agreement with Aeolus Kenya for the 61MW Kinangop wind power project. Standard Bank is lead arranger and will underwrite $90m in debt, while Norway’s Norfund and African Infrastructure Investment Managers, part of South Africa’s Old Mutual Investment Group, will provide $60m in equity. The project is expected to commission in mid 2015. Aeolus executive director Jenny Fletcher told African Energy commissioning “should be 19 months from close… we should have all the conditions precedent finished by the end of this week”.


ANGOLA: First Subsea contract for PSVM; CAMEROON: Polarcus in seismic survey for Noble/Petronas; GABON: Vaalco extends Etame permit; LIBYA: Hess tests offshore well; MOZAMBIQUE: Anadarko drilling; NAMIBIA: Chariot starts second 3D survey; SENEGAL: FAR extension; SOUTH AFRICA: Companies to explore for shale gas; SUDAN: Three new agreements for CNPC; TUNISIA: PGS to shoot seismic for AuDAX

President Jacob Zuma on 30 August inaugurated the long-awaited 800MW Unit VI of the 4,764MW Medupi coal power station, the first unit to be brought online. Construction began in May 2007 and it is expected to be completed by 2019. “The commercial operation of Unit VI of the Medupi power station is a critical milestone in our effort to build new generating capacity to meet South Africa’s rising electricity demand,” said Eskom acting chief executive Brian Molefe.

Songa Energy Burundi is seeking expressions of interest from consultants to carry out development studies for the 8MW Mule037 and 1.07MW Ruvyi102 hydropower projects, which are being co-developed with East African renewables developer Virunga Power. The studies will also look at solar hybridisation.

Ncondezi Energy has launched the engineering, procurement and construction contract proposals process for its 300MW integrated thermal coal mine and power plant project in northern Mozambique. Earlier this year the company received 16 indicative bids for the project and drew up a short list of seven. The pre-qualified bidders are expected to submit a binding, fixed price lump sum turnkey contract for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of two 150MW power plant boiler units using circulating fluidised bed technology in Q1 2014.

Opposition from local authorities to UK private equity investor Actis’ planned takeover of French operator Veolia Environnement’s electricity, water and sanitation concessions in Morocco may be explained in part by a shift in political and popular opinion away from privately financed projects and concessions back to a greater role for local politicians and the state. Morocco is not alone in this: public/private partnership models that give public bodies, and the politicians who lead them, more control are increasingly in vogue.

The Western Cape government has called for Pretoria to speed up policymaking and reduce bureaucracy in its comments on legislative amendments aimed at enabling power procurement by municipalities. In its response to draft amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act 2006 published by South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), the Western Cape government pushed for the right to procure power without requiring ministerial sign-off. The provincial government is also pushing for planning and regulatory processes to be streamlined and for greater clarity on the procurement process.

The African Development Bank has invited expressions of interest by 28 December from consulting firms to assist with the roll-out of Electricity Cooperative Models in Nigeria and Ethiopia.