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The Ministry of Infrastructure, Natural Resources and Environment invites expressions of interest by 3 December from consultants to prepare feasibility studies for mini-hydropower plants and provide technical assistance to attract private sector and/or PPP investment.

Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) has invited expressions of interest by 30 January from consultants to update a feasibility study of the proposed 222MW Rumakali hydropower project at the northern tip of Lake Malawi.

Despite environmental campaigns against the Inga project, renewed support from Nigeria and South Africa has boosted optimism over its future both at the Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity and at the Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel). “Don’t forget that this is a Congolese project that will be implemented anyway, with whoever is ready to embark on it,” a ministry official told African Energy. South Africa’s Eskom has already come forward as an anchor client, with an agreement to offtake 2,500MW from the 113-metre Inga 3 Basse Chute dam project (4,800MW), while Nigeria has expressed strong interest in an additional 2,400MW that will be generated by the second phase of Inga 3, the 7,200MW Inga 3 Haute Chute, which will raise the dam by 40 metres.

London-based Independent Resources, which has assets in Tunisia and Egypt, has brought in three directors from ambitious Morocco player Sound Energy and plans to change its name to Echo Energy. Continental Investment Partners, which also has 10% in Sound, has taken a 29.9% share via its associate Greenberry plc. Sound chief executive James Parsons will join the company as non-executive chairman, while two other Sound directors, Marco Fumagalli and Stephen Whyte, will also join the board.

The 1,200MW Koudiet Eddraouch power plant in eastern Algeria has fallen behind schedule. The project was awarded in May 2008 to a consortium of GE and Spain’s Iberdrola, which says it is still testing production units, though the 48.5 months contract period has expired.

Following the completion of a prefeasibility study on a proposed pipeline from Mozambique’s Indian Ocean port of Beira to Malawi’s proposed inland port of Nsanje, Qatar’s Venessia Petroleum is preparing to launch an engineering and design study for the project (AE 131/20).

Technip contracts for Block 31 developments; PA Resources farms out Marine XIV; EODC contracts for two jack-ups; M&P to appraise Omko-1; Perenco quits Dussafu Marin; Swiss Oil takes Blocks L4 and L13; Candax starts seismic; Universal extends holdings; Aker contract

Zambia has pledged to maintain electricity supplies to the mining industry despite the expiry of the power supply agreement between Zesco and the privatised Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC).The bulk supply agreement (BSA) expired on 31 March, ending a 23-year-old arrangement for electricity supply to the country’s economic mainstay sector. The government says Zesco will continue supplying power to the Copperbelt for up to 12 months while a long-term solution is sought.

French investigators on 25 April charged industrialist Vincent Bolloré and two colleagues as part of an investigation into suspected bribery of foreign officials in Guinea and Togo. Prosecutors are investigating whether Bolloré’s Havas communications business helped African leaders win power in return for contracts for Bolloré Group to operate ports. Bolloré Group said in a statement that a subsidiary was under investigation “regarding the payment of provisions for communication services in Guinea and Togo that were provided in 2009 and 2010”.

SDX Energy sees more acquisition opportunities in Egypt following its purchase of Circle Oil’s assets, as other companies look to reduce their exposure or pull out altogether. SDX, which listed on London’s AIM market in May 2016, plans to spud a well this month on Egypt’s South Disouq licence followed by further exploration drilling in Egypt and Morocco (AE 339/14).

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $30m investment in the Facility for Energy Inclusion Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (FEI Ogef), which will provide debt finance for the off-grid power sector. Investments have also been approved by Calvert Impact Capital (CIC, $10m), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and €6m ($7m) from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), which also agreed a €0.5m grant for technical assistance. FEI Ogef comes as rapidly expanding off-grid solar companies are looking at options for raising larger tranches of debt funding.

After announcing a “world class” gas find in May, Kosmos Energy has found more gas deeper in the Tortue discovery, which has been renamed Ahmeyim at the government’s request. In addition to the 107 metres of pay found in the primary Cenomanian target, the well intersected ten metres in the lower Albian section. Chevron has an option to take a 30% stake in Ahmeyim, which has opened a new outboard Cretaceous petroleum system offshore Mauritania and northern Senegal.

A court in N’djamena has fined the ExxonMobil-led consortium producing oil from the Doba Basin $76bn in a dispute about royalties. Exxon said it disagreed with the court’s ruling and was “evaluating next steps”. It said the dispute was over “commitments made by the government to the consortium, not the government’s ability to impose taxes”. The court awarded the finance ministry CFA483.6bn in damages, plus a penalty of CFA44,294bn. The consortium has lodged an appeal in N’djamena as well as a case at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris.

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has signed a $1.4bn agreement with China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company (CET), part of the State Grid Corporation of China, to build a 619km double-circuit 500kV AC transmission line to connect the 6,000MW Grand Renaissance dam to the grid. The project is expected to be implemented in stages between 2014 and 2016. The work will also include construction of a 98km double-circuit AC transmission line and two new 500kV substations as well as expanding three 400kV substations.

State energy giant Sonatrach has established a powerful ethics committee to enforce a new code of conduct which was published in English and French on its website on 25 November