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In a series of bold and politically risky moves, the Egyptian government has attempted to stabilise its economy and reduce its dependence on financial support from the Gulf by devaluing its currency, reducing subsidies and turning to Iran as an alternative source of imported fuel. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s administration appears to be banking on the assumption that it can contain any public unrest provoked by domestic price rises and shortages of essential goods. It believes it can weather a geopolitical storm with its former patron, and that in the long term the economy will rest on firmer ground.

Canada’s Griffiths Energy International plans to change its name to Caracal Energy and list its shares on the London Stock Exchange’s main market. The company planned an initial public offering last year, but the plans were shelved when the company discovered that its late founder, Brad Griffiths, had bribed Chadian officials to obtain exploration acreage. Griffiths Energy was fined C$10.35m by a Calgary court in January.

The shape of policy towards unconventional gas is becoming clearer, as the government and Sonatrach see potentially vast shale reserves as a game-changer that will assure Algeria’s status as a strategically important gas exporter for decades to come, write Jon Marks and Oualid Khelifi

President Macky Sall looked at his confident best on 12 June as he hosted a day of dialogue over the future shape of the oil and gas industry and the expected revenue boost to the Senegalese economy. The event sought to bring together politicians, business and civil society, but significant elements of the opposition boycotted the event in Dakar’s new conference centre. Sall’s opponents demand that the government should publish all the natural resources contracts it has signed to date.

A joint venture of Edison International and Petroceltic International has been awarded the North Port Fouad Block, in the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company 2013 International Bid Round. North Port Fouad (Block 7), is located offshore the Nile Delta and lies to the north of, and immediately adjacent to, the North Thekah Block, which was awarded to a Petroceltic/ Edison joint venture in 2013.

Turkish company Aksa Enerji Uretim commissioned the second 12MW unit of the rehabilitated Ambohimanambola heavy fuel oil (HFO) plant in January. The company won a contract to rehabilitate and operate the 24MW plant – which is adjacent to a 66MW HFO plant Aksa brought online in July 2017 – in April 2018 and began operating the first 12MW unit on 6 December. Aksa has a five-year dollar-denominated contract to sell power to national utility Jiro Sy Rano Malagasy (Jirama).

Amid growing interest in West Africa’s untapped potential, Bergen Oilfield Services (BOS) is to acquire a big multi-client 2D seismic survey extending from Senegal to Guinea.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’s Barquentine well has made another gas find in Offshore Area 1 of the Rovuma Basin

London-based Helios Investment Partners has raised more than $1bn for its third Africa-focused fund, making it the largest fund dedicated to African private equity. More than 60% of the capital comes from existing investors, and Helios said the investor base included sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension funds, endowments and foundations, funds of funds, family offices and development finance institutions across the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. Helios held the previous record for the biggest private equity fund in Africa, having raised $908m in 2011.

Ophir Energy has revived plans to seek a share listing to help fund its growing exploration activity. The company was considering an initial public offering in 2007, but opted to stay private. It argued that markets liked to see short-term results, but that it was still a couple of years from drilling, and private equity was a better way of meeting its needs (AE 126/14

Two consortia submitted bids for the Inga 3 Basse Chute project on 3 September. The bidders are Groupement Chine d’Inga, made up of China Three Gorges International Corporation, Sinohydro, State Grid International Development Company, Changjiang Institute of Survey Planning Design and Research, China Gezhouba Group Company and Dongfang Electric Corporation, and Groupement ProInga, led by Spain’s Actividades de Construcción y Servicios with Spain’s Eurofinsa and AEE Power, Andritz Hydro of Germany, Brazil’s Andrade Gutierrez and China National Electric Engineering Company.

The government on 6 June launched its 2016 licensing round, offering all 37 of the country’s open blocks. The launch took place in Cape Town, and roadshows will be held in London on 20-21 June, in Singapore on 20-23 September, in Istanbul during the World Energy Congress on 9-13 October and finally in Houston in November. The blocks on offer include Block A-12, which was recently relinquished by Marathon, while Glencore’s former EG-05 has been subdivided into smaller blocks.

Energie du Mali (EDM) has invited sealed bids by 20 July for the rental, operation and maintenance of containerised diesel generators with a combined capacity of 20MW.

Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) has appointed Ziria Tibalwa Waako as acting chief executive, replacing Benon Mutambi, who was named last year as permanent secretary in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Waako, who joined ERA as director technical regulation in 2012, will head the ERA secretariat for six months or until the position is filled. Senior ERA staff had been keen to see a successor appointed from within the body to ensure continuity. Waako studied electrical engineering at Makerere University and worked at Uganda Electricity Transmission Company before joining ERA

The past four years have been a period of intense frustration for National Oil Corporation (NOC) and its international partners as persistent violence and political mayhem have cut oil production to one-quarter of the 1.6m b/d maximum and made it impossible to implement exploration and development plans. NOC’s inability to make progress on a practical level has not stopped it from working up new investment schemes, which it has presented to international oil companies (IOCs) in increasing detail over the past several years.