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Canadian upstream junior Calvalley Petroleum has signed an agreement for the exploration, development and production of the Gimbi and Metema blocks, in the west adjacent to the border with Sudan. The blocks fall under a single contract that covers a total area of some 46,470km2.

Ahead of a government decision on whether to authorise shale gas exploration, water and environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa has invoked the National Water Act and opened a public consultation process, saying that operators will require a water use licence before being allowed to start hydraulic fracturing to explore in the Karoo region. Molewa has asked for public comment on the notice, which covers fracking and other elements of onshore exploration and production activity involving unconventional oil and gas resources. An interdepartmental task team has also been established to investigate fracking issues ahead of a government decision – which is expected before the 2014 elections.

South African brewer AB InBev expects to commission seven solar PV projects on its brewing facilities in March with a combined capacity of 8.7MW. The plants have been developed by South Africa’s Sola Group, which signed power purchase agreements in 2018. Sola Group told African Energy the projects were being financed through its Orionis fund, which is backed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers and Nedbank New Energy Finance. The fund has secured about $26.1m for a total of 40MW of solar projects with corporate partners.

The large number of independent and junior exploration companies operating in Tunisia means the country continues to be a busy place for farm-ins, although most developments are small-scale

Portugal’s Galp said on 31 January that it was farming down a 40% interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 82 to ExxonMobil. On conclusion of the transaction, Galp and ExxonMobil will each hold a 40% interest in the licence, and Galp will retain the operatorship.

Seplat has abandoned plans to make a bid for Afren after the beleaguered company turned down its request for a further extension to the deadline to make a formal offer. “The board has not received any proposal from Seplat that it believes is capable of being implemented on terms satisfactory to all relevant stakeholders in the company, including the indicated value being significantly below the aggregate value of the debt of the company,” Afren said in a 13 February statement.

European ratings agency Fitch has revised Gabon’s outlook to positive and affirmed its BB- rating; The Paris Club of creditor governments on 11 April agreed to alleviate Guinea’s external public debt, putting its Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) programme back on track after several years of political turmoil

The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) now comprises 14 members. These are mainly state-owned utilities, although there are some other members, including Africa’s oldest independent generator,

Democratic Republic of Congo boasts massive energy generation potential from hydro, wind or solar, but the traditional approach of evaluating hundreds of prospective hydro sites across the country looks increasingly flawed. Overcoming the chronic shortage of available generation capacity is most likely to be achieved by focusing on relatively modest projects located close to key load centres, and using a variety of technologies, rather than by developing the massive Inga or other large-scale hydro schemes.

State utility Office National de l’Electricité (ONE) has invited expressions of interest by 1 February 2012 from engineering, procurement and construction contractors to

Low bidder Petrofac/IKPT has lost the Arzew LNG train contract to a joint venture of Italy’s Saipem/Snamprogetti and Japan’s Chiyoda. The E2.8bn ($4.4bn) engineering, procurement and construction contract is for a single train gas liquefaction plant, with a capacity of 4.7m t/yr, to be built near Arzew, about 400km west of Algiers.

The government has promised to pay $1.5bn of the $6bn it says it owes oil firms in an effort to revive investor confidence and boost investment in the energy sector. “There is approval to pay $1.5bn,” interim prime minister Hazem El-Beblawi told a business conference in Cairo on 4 December aimed at attracting investment from Gulf states. While oil companies remain undeterred by Egypt’s political upheavals, stressing that both onshore and offshore operations are unaffected, they are suffering a growing financial burden from unpaid arrears owed to them by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries.

Canada’s troubled SNC-Lavalin has been hit with a Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgrade as the ratings agency warned of the risk of weaker profit in the wake of corruption scandals surrounding the firm’s operations in Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Bangladesh. S&P cut its ratings from BBB+ to BBB with negative outlook.

The federal government has injected an extra $550m into its $1bn sovereign wealth fund to support investment in the power sector. Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that $200m of the $550m would go into the Infrastructure Fund of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority to finance gas-to-power investments with the private sector. The other $350m will go into a liquidity facility for the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), which will act as the bulk purchaser and reseller of electricity until the new distribution companies establish creditworthiness and are able to negotiate directly with the generation companies.

Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) and Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) are seeking expressions of interest from consultants to carry out a feasibility study for an interconnection transmission line from Menengai in Kenya to Mwanza in Tanzania via Kilgoris, and a study to find a cost-reflective interconnection tariff and wheeling charge.Tanesco is also seeking a consultant for a distribution master plan study covering Mbeya, Arusha, Mwanza and Dodoma.The studies will be financed from funding to the Tanzanian government from the African Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency for the Kenya-Tanzania Power Interconnector Project.