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AIM-listed Sirius Petroleum has appointed Ophir Energy founders Alan Stein and Jonathan Taylor to a new technical advisory committee to help it bring its Ororo field in block OML95 offshore Nigeria into production. The appointments form part of a broader technical advisory agreement with Perth-based natural resources investment company Havoc Partners, which was co-founded by Stein and Taylor. Sirius acquired 40% of OML 95 through a financial and technical services agreement with Ondo state-owned Owena Oil & Gas Limited and Guarantee Petroleum Company in 2011.

Mobisol has teamed up with West African solar distributor Baobab+ to provide pay-as-you-go solar systems in Côte d’Ivoire. A joint statement said the cooperation combined Mobisol’s strengths in provision of solar hardware and software with Baobab+’s regional experience in customer finance and distribution. Baobab+ was launched in 2015 by microfinance services provider Microcred Group, which has a network of 20 branches and 100,000 clients in Côte d’Ivoire. Mobisol will provide hardware and software, while Baobab+ will focus on sales and distribution.

A bilateral energy agreement signed by presidents Ian Khama and Jacob Zuma on 31 August has been greeted with a mixed reaction. The agreement is intended to lead to the export of coal from Botswana to South Africa.

Following completion of a farm-out to NewAge (African Global Energy), Euroil chairman Chief Ndieb-Nso George Tabetando has stepped down from the board of former Etinde operator Bowleven, along with general counsel Peter Wilson. Tabetando, a lawyer and traditional chief from South West Region, founded Euroil in 1995, and the company was awarded the Etinde permit in 1998. Euroil became part of Bowleven in 2001.

Eskom announced on 9 October that Unit II of its 4,764MW Medupi coal power plant has been synchronised to the grid, eight months ahead of schedule. The unit supplied its first power to the grid on 7 October 2018, generating 400MW. Unit II is the fifth of the six Medupi units to be synchronised. During the testing and optimisation phase, which will last several months, it will deliver power intermittently as it ramps up to the full 794MW capacity.

Fuel marketer and distributor Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) has signed a co-operation agreement with the Ghana Navy for the use of berthing facilities at Sekondi naval base for its bunkering operations

Tullow Oil has announced that the Zaedyus-2 appraisal well on the Guyane Maritime licence offshore French Guiana did not encounter commercial hydrocarbons.

A detailed request for proposals (RfP) has been issued to two bidders – Tlou Energy and Kalahari Sustainable Energy subsidiary Sekaname – selected by the government to develop a coalbed methane project of up to 100MW. Bids are due from the two companies by 12 July. The scheme is intended to establish pilot projects that will ultimately lead to establishing a gas supply for the 90MW Orapa peaking power plant, owned by the Botswana Power Corporation. Few details are yet known as the RfP requires confidentiality from the bidders.

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

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.

A two-day meeting of East African power organisations concluded on 26 June in Kigali, with the regional bodies agreeing to closer collaboration to integrate their power systems. The main aim of the meeting was for the power organisations to agree on co-ordination arrangements and frameworks to avoid duplication and overlaps, and to develop a way forward to accelerate completion and commissioning of ongoing projects. The organisations represented were the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme, Energie des Grands Lacs, the Eastern Africa Power Pool and the East African Community.

Woodside Energy has raised A$1.57bn ($1.24bn) through an Institutional Entitlement Offer of new shares. The company will use the cash to fund the acquisition of ExxonMobil’s stake in the Scarborough gas field offshore Western Australia, and for its other operations, including the SNE Phase 1 development in Senegal. The offer is the first stage of a planned equity raising announced on 14 February to raise A$2.5bn. A retail component closing on 7 March is planned to raise another A$960m.

China’s Yingli Green Energy Holding Company’s wholly owned subsidiary Yingli Green Energy Spain has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Senelec to build a 2MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Dakar. The facility will supply power to the new Diamniadio international conference centre, which will host the 15th Francophonie summit in November. Yingli will supply the PV modules for the project, which is expected to produce 3.7MWh/yr.

Operator Taipan Resources has signed a letter of intent with China’s Greatwall Drilling Company to contract the GW-190 land rig for the high-impact Badada-1 well on Block 2B. The Anza Basin well is expected to spud between mid-December and mid-January and take around 70 days to drill. Premier Oil farmed into the onshore block in October 2013, taking 55%. “The Badada-1 well is a potential play-opener,” said partner Tower Resources. “It will test the first of several prospects and leads in Block 2B that are potentially analogous to prospects in the Lokichar Basin where Tullow Oil and Africa Oil have enjoyed multiple oil discoveries in the Tertiary Rift sequence.

SOCO International is preparing to drill up to three offshore exploration wells, with the first well expected to spud in early September.