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Only a few months after the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) distribution business was transferred to Power Distribution Services Ghana Ltd (PDS) on 1 March, the government has suspended the concession. “The decision follows the detection of fundamental and material breaches of PDS’ obligation in the provision of payment securities (demand guarantees) for the transaction which have been discovered upon further due diligence,” the Ministry of Information said in a 30 July statement.

Africa Oil Corporation has extended its production-sharing agreements (PSAs) with the unrecognised republic of Puntland for the Dharoor Valley Nugaal Valley exploration areas.

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) has notified operator Aminex that it plans to take a 5% working interest in the Kiliwani North development licence. Under the terms of the Nyuni East Songo-Songo production-sharing agreement which governs the Kiliwani North licence, TPDC has the right to take up 5%, in exchange for reimbursing the joint venture partners with the parastatal’s proportionate share of development capital expenditure on the licence to date. On conclusion of the back-in, Aminex’s interest will fall to 55.575% from 58.5% now.

Total announced the start of gas production from the Timimoun field in south-western Algeria on 29 March. The production complex with a capacity of around 5mcm/d of natural gas at plateau (around 30,000 boe/d) is jointly operated by Sonatrach (51%), Total (37.75%) and Cepsa (11.25%).“The launch of Timimoun is a new step in the group’s history in Algeria, where we are a long-term partner. Achieved within the planned budget, the project will contribute to Total’s production growth in 2018,” said Total Exploration & Production president Arnaud Breuillac.

The first shipment of crude contracted by the House of Representatives (HoR)-appointed management of National Oil Corporation in Al-Bayda will be loaded this month and transported to a major shipping port in Europe. “I am going to break this thing, Insha’Allah,” Edward Loyd, chief executive of California-based Loyd Capital Partners, told African Energy on 9 March. He said the HoR-aligned Central Bank of Libya had just issued a letter confirming the bank account to which payment for the crude should be made.

Nigeria’s RoyalGate Energy has said it will drill a well on Block Z in Q1 2016 but declined to comment on whether it had secured a rig. RoyalGate said the Z-1 well would target the Tulip Upper Isongo discovery and Tulip Massive Isongo prospect. “Unfortunately, we cannot give out information about the rig contract at this time,” the company told African Energy.

Cameroon-focused Bowleven has entered into a farm-in agreement to acquire a 50% equity interest in onshore Block 11B in northwest Kenya, from East Africa specialist Chris Matchette-Downes’ Adamantine Energy.

Lekela Power’s takeover of the Taiba Ndiaye wind project and construction starts at two privately financed solar photovoltaic (PV) units point to a strong renewable energy element in Senegal’s ambitious plans to qualify as an emerging economy by 2035. Extra thermal capacity will also be added, while gas imports and/or offshore upstream development will be promoted as the government presses to get as many new generation projects going as possible. Several schemes are slated to start up in Q4 2017, coinciding with President Macky Sall’s quest for re-election, senior officials noted.

Houston-based Apache Corporation has completed the acquisition of BP’s oil and gas operations, acreage and infrastructure in Egypt’s Western Desert.

Guernsey-registered Oyster Oil and Gas has signed the first production-sharing agreement with the government for onshore blocks 1, 2 and 4 and offshore Block 3. The blocks are situated in the Guban Basin and Red Sea Basin

Persistent blackouts in Addis Ababa and other urban centres in Africa’s second most populous country are a reminder of its vulnerability to drought. But Ethiopian officials who spoke to African Energy at locations across the country anticipated major improvements to hydropower generation in coming months. A minimum two turbines of the 6GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) will be operational by end-2016, Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) chief executive Azeb Asnake told African Energy on 26 February.

Infrastructure minister James Musoni has said he expects installed generation capacity to rise by 70MW to about 230MW by year-end. The increase will comprise 30MW imported from Kenya, an initial 25MW from the KivuWatt methane scheme, and 15MW from the Gishoma peat power plant. Kenyan imports are expected to start this month. The peat plant, being built by China’s Shengli Energy Group, will supply 10MW to the Cimerwa cement company and 5MW to the grid. Generation capacity is presently 161.4MW, made up of 97.4MW of hydro, 51.7MW of thermal power, 3.6MW of methane and 8.75 MW of solar.

Sierra Leone’s parliament voted unanimously on 29 November to ratify a 25-year power purchase agreement and implementation agreement for the 143MW Bumbuna II hydropower project, following the signing of the documents on 4 August 2017. Sponsors Joule Africa and local partner Energy Services Company are close to selecting an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and the equity and debt financing is underway.

Human Rights Watch’s new report lists a number of business dealings between relatives of President Obiang and US

South Africa’s BioTherm Energy has signed an agreement to sell 60% in three solar and wind plants to New York Stock Exchange-listed SunEdison. The three operating plants were developed by BioTherm under the first round of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement (REIPPP) programme. They are the 26.19MW Dassiesklip wind project and the 9.65MW Konkoonsies and Aries solar projects developed by Aurora Power Solutions and BioTherm with funding from Denham Capital.