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Tullow Oil, in its heyday a ‘super-independent’ with a FTSE 100 listing, marks the 30th anniversary of its founding this year in survival mode – although the start-up of the TEN development in Ghana provides some relief in cashflow terms. Tullow’s 2016 capital expenditure is set to be less than $1bn, down 41% from its 2015 level, while its 2017 spending will fall to $275m in a base-case scenario, with a further $250m of optional additional spend.

The Shoreline Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd (ShoreCan) joint venture has taken a 100% interest in OPL 226 through the acquisition of 80% of the share capital of Essar Exploration and Production Ltd (Nigeria). ShoreCan, owned equally by Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd (COPL) and Nigeria’s Shoreline Energy International, was launched early last year to acquire assets in sub-Saharan Africa (AE 296/17). COPL president and chief executive Arthur Millholland created North Sea exploration company Oilexco, which collapsed in 2008 with liabilities of some $1.8bn. Shoreline is majority owned by managing director Kola Karim and his family.

Japan’s Toshiba Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC), a subsidiary of Tanzania Electric Supply Company, covering “comprehensive collaboration in the geothermal power generation business”, Toshiba said in a statement. TGDC is the only company holding geothermal exploitation rights in Tanzania and has a remit to develop resources and construct power plants. Under the terms of the agreement, Toshiba will develop and provide equipment, create guidelines for power plant operation and management and become involved with the training of TGDC staff.

The DR Congo government committee overseeing the reform of state companies is preparing a diagnostic report on Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel) with the aim of setting out a plan for its restructuring

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on 16 July shut down the 624MW Afam VI power station due to a shortage of gas supplies caused by the closure of the Trans Nigerian Pipeline (TNP), the company announced in a statement. The TNP, also owned by Shell, was closed after a number of leakages caused by oil thefts, the most recent being a leakage at Owokiri on 11 July where a 6inch crude theft valve was discovered on the facility. Shell has repaired the leak and is “working to remove other crude theft points that were discovered in the process”, corporate media relations manager Tony Okonedo said in a statement.

AIM-listed Wentworth Resources announced on 13 November that chief executive Eskil Jersing was stepping down from the board and leaving the company with immediate effect. Jersing joined Wentworth in June 2018 with a mandate to drive the business forward, but the share price has declined steadily since then.

Togo is embarking on a country-wide solar rural electrification programme to bring power to 293 towns and villages in the country’s five regions. Known in French as Programme de Valorisation de l’Energie Solaire, or Proves, the scheme envisages the installation of solar photovoltaic systems to electrify 293 towns and villages in the Savanes, Kara, Centrale, Plateaux and Maritime regions.

Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum has completed acquisition of 326km of 2D seismic data over the Ngassa Block in the Albertine Graben. The Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) said the survey was carried out by the UK’s IMC Geophysical Services between 19 April and 18 May as part of the work programme for the first two-year exploration phase on the licence that runs from October 2017 to October 2019. The next two-year phase includes an obligation to drill at least one well.

Indonesia’s Indorama Group will in May inaugurate a new production plant at Eleme Petrochemicals in Port Harcourt, subject to completion of the regulatory process

A source close to the government has confirmed to African Energy that Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) is in talks with China National Electric Engineering Company (CNEEC) over the sale of its disastrous 600MW Morupule B coal power plant. CNEEC was the original contractor for the project, which has been operating at a fraction of its installed capacity since coming online in 2014. The Chinse company was plagued by accidents and technical challenges during construction before eventually having its contract terminated. Since then poor operations and maintenance have compounded problems at the plant.

Wärtsilä on 10 July inaugurated the 140MW Sasol gas-fired power plant at Sasolburg, described as the largest power plant running exclusively on gas engines on the African continent. The Finnish company carried out the engineering, procurement, construction and project management of the new power plant, which is powered by 18 Wärtsilä 34SG generating sets running on natural gas.

Ethiopian authorities say they have averted a planned armed attack on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project under construction on the Blue Nile near the Sudanese border. Deputy government spokesman Zadig Abrha told the state-owned Fana Broadcasting Corporation on 1 March that 20 members of the Benishangul Gumuz People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM) had been apprehended as they were heading for the dam site.

Moroccans are seeking effective project and policy implementation while the authorities are rethinking electricity and gas industry structures yet again, writes Jon Marks.

Kalahari GeoEnergy expects to drill three geothermal resource delineation slim wells and complete feasibility studies in the next ten months, provided coronavirus restrictions are eased soon. The Bweengwa River geothermal resource in the Kafue Trough west of Lusaka has about 15MW of power generation capacity at 50% probability, and the aim of these studies is to raise this to 90% probability, Kalahari GeoEnergy chief executive Peter Vivian- Neal told African Energy.

Dr Shukri Ghanem’s return to the helm of National Oil Corporation (NOC) has not been sufficient to persuade a number of international oil companies that they have a long-term future in Libya at a time of high costs and tight finance (AE 173/24). Woodside Energy announced its imminent departure at a 24 November investor briefing,