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The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) is looking to expand its InfraCredit model, which was established in Nigeria in 2017 by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and GuarantCo to provide credit enhancements to infrastructure companies to allow them to raise long-term capital from pension funds and institutional investors. Since then, the two founding sponsors have been joined by the Africa Finance Corporation and German development bank KfW. A number of initiatives are emerging to encourage investment by African institutions into infrastructure.

One of Algeria’s few privately financed infrastructure projects has formally broken down after years of problems, with state energy giant Sonatrach and water company L’Algérienne des Eaux telling a group led by Malaysia’s Malakoff Corporation they are terminating their water purchase agreement (WPA) for the troubled Souk Tleta desalination plant. The reverse osmosis plant in Tlemcen province began commercial operations in 2011 under a 25-year contract, but has been out of operation since 2016; before that it never treated anything like its 200,000 m3/d capacity to process sea water, which was intended to produce a nominal 71,400 m3/d of drinking water.

The connection between the Jubilee floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and the Atuabo gas plant was completed on 7 November, allowing gas to be exported to the plant and commissioning to start. Upstream operator Tullow Oil said the plant was expected to become fully operational towards year-end, which would allow gas to be evacuated from the FPSO and significantly reduce the need for re-injection. “However, due to the substantial quantity of gas injected into the reservoir since first oil in 2010, it is anticipated that the increase of Jubilee oil production will be gradual and is expected to take until Q4 2015 to reach the facility capacity of 120,000 b/d,” Tullow said in an interim management statement (IMS) on 12 November.

Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) has signed a memorandum of understanding to sell 50MW of power to Zimbabwe. Mozambique news agency AIM reported that the agreement was signed in Maputo on 12 September and sales were due to begin in October. EDM chair Ali Sicola said at the signing ceremony that sales to Zesa would earn EDM $4m/month.

Afren spin-off Gasol has named former Opec secretary-general Rilwanu Lukman as chairman, replacing Cornelia Meyer, who stepped down with effect from 1 August. Lukman co-founded Afren and served as its non-executive chairman from November 2006 to December 2008, and as strategic adviser to the board from July 2007 to December 2008, stepping down when he was named Nigerian petroleum resources minister by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Switzerland’s ABB has won a contract from Italy’s Ansaldo Energia to supply a plant automation system at the 340MW open cycle gas turbine power plant Ain Djasser III. The plant will be owned and operated by state power utility Sociéte Algérienne de Production de l’Electricité. The work includes provision of a distributed control system based on the Symphony Plus total plant automation platform. ABB was awarded a second contract by Ansaldo to expand the 220kV substation which connects the Ain Djasser power plants to the grid.

A deal that was expected to allow the restart of the Segas LNG plant at Damietta has fallen through, though Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) says it is ready to start a new round of negotiations. Agreements signed in February by Eni, Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Egas and Spain’s Naturgy were expected to pave the way for the plant to restart by June 2020.

Created last year to operate as an indigenous investment bank, Lagos-based Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) enjoys strong Nigerian governmental support and has hired a group of leading

Ophir Energy has secured a rig for a West African drilling campaign to start in February in Gabon. It has agreed heads of terms for a deep-water drillship for six firm wells plus additional contingent slots. The programme will start in early February with the 1bn barrel Padouck Deep pre-salt prospect on Gabon’s Ntsina Block, followed by the Affanga Deep prospect on the Gnondo Block, then the pre-salt Okala prospect on the Mbeli Block.

Luxembourg-based Young Energy Prize (YEP) is a prime example of an obscure Russian-backed operation that has used former Soviet and more recent connections to replace ownership of strategic resources at home with extensive African ambitions.

Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (Nigelec) has issued a general procurement notice for a project to expand electricity to seven urban centres. The project comprises the expansion of the grid, which is expected to cost $52.6m, and capacity building at Nigelec and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, expected to cost $8.72m. Finance is being provided by the World Bank Group’s International Development Agency. Construction works will include extending and reinforcing the grid in Niamey, Dosso, Tillabéry, Maradi, Tahoua, Agadex and Zinder; connecting 60,000 households to the grid; management and supervision of building work, supply of materials and meters; and management of connections.

ALGERIA: EU gives green light for Arzew petrochems project; NIGERIA: East Area NGL starts up; SOUTH AFRICA: PetroSA names advisor for Coega refinery; SOUTH AFRICA: Siemens wins products pipe contract

Companies have been tightening their belts in response to a lower oil price, but also anticipating the longer-term benefits from what they say is a long overdue fall in costs for services such as drilling and seismic.Faced with a sudden fall in the oil price, as well as a lower share price, Tullow Oil has slashed its exploration budget for the next year. France’s Total, the leading deep-water operator in the Gulf of Guinea, argues that the current high-cost, low-price scenario is unsustainable, while Ophir Energy’s more positive view is that, for companies with cash to spend, there will soon be opportunities as prices submit to downward pressure.

he World Bank has approved $385m in International Development Association (IDA) financing for the Cameroon-Chad Interconnection Project, which aims to interconnect the southern and northern power systems of Cameroon, enable electricity trade between Cameroon and Chad, and increase access to electricity in N’Djamena.

Times become tough for international companies exploring in Libya