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The first quarter of 2019 saw a net addition of 1,097MW of on-grid capacity in Africa, the lowest increase – calculated on an annualised basis – since 2011, the first set of quarterly figures to be produced by African Energy Live Data show. If the captive plants and mini-grids that Live Data is aware of are included, the net addition of 1,123MW was the lowest since 2008. Quarterly averages were used for comparison due to uncertainty about the exact commercial operations dates of some historic power plants.

Afren affiliate Gasol has announced two new agreements as part of its strategy to monetise the Gulf of Guinea’s stranded gas. On 31 May, the UK-based company said it had negotiated a revised agreement with Equatorial Guinea state gas company Sociedad Nacional de Gas (Sonagas) for the associated gas from ExxonMobil’s Zafiro field.

A cabinet meeting on 25 March approved a draft hydrocarbons bill that aims to bring Congo’s oil and gas legislation into line with the legal and tax frameworks in other member states of the African Petroleum Producers’ Association. The bill will be submitted to parliament for discussion and adoption. A government statement said the law updates the existing 1994 code, granting the state Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) exclusive rights to mining titles, with the possibility of forming partnerships with local and foreign companies. A local content provision establishes a minimum 15% share for local private companies in production-sharing contracts.

Plans are being accelerated to build a new interconnection linking Mozambique with Zambia and South Africa, Electricidade de Moçambique director of market operations Aderito Manso de Sousa said in Johannesburg on 15 March. A feasibility study for the so-called Mozisa project will be launched soon, he told the Power and Electricity World Africa conference.

London Stock Exchange-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), an independent explorer that has made a number of discoveries in Algeria’s Hassi Ba Hammou perimeter, says it does not expect to encounter problems when the time comes to raise finance to bring the field into production.

A consortium of Sasol Petroleum International, Statoil and Chesapeake Energy Corporation has decided not to apply for shale gas exploration rights in the Karoo Basin, following a 12-month study.

The Niger Solar Electricity Access Project, agreed this summer by the World Bank Group, commits $45.55m in soft International Development Association credits for a programme costing nearly $50m. One of Africa’s poorest countries will receive support for stand-alone solar systems ($7m), rural electrification through service-based solar hybrid mini-grids ($8.2m) and the hybridisation of isolated thermal mini-grids and expansion of access ($22.46m); there is also $7.89m for implementation support and technical assistance.

An expansion of refining and petrochemical facilities will be a key part of Libya’s plans for increasing crude oil production, but this means tackling the massive problem of domestic fuel subsidies. National Oil Corporation chairman Dr Nouri Berouin outlined his plans in an interview with John Hamilton in Tripoli.

State-owned utility NamPower is to seek investment of N$18bn ($1.8bn) to expand its generating capacity over the next four years to ward off a looming electricity deficit. Most of its regional power supply agreements expire by 2016“[South Africa’s] Eskom has told us that they could switch us off at any time. They have switched us off two times already this year but we managed to keep the lights on in Namibia without a problem,” said managing director Paulinus Shilamba. “There is no crisis, just challenges.”

The World Bank on 27 May approved an additional $200m loan for the Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion Project (Enrep). The package includes a $5m grant from the Energy Small and Medium Enterprises Trust Fund while the Ethiopian government will provide $43m. Two carbon finance initiatives worth $21m have also been approved under the Carbon Initiative for Development to support off-grid renewable energy products. The project will focus on strengthening and expanding the grid as well as increasing the number of customers in connected areas. Efforts will also be made to develop the market for solar products and to provide technical assistance to state utilities.

The African Development Bank’s soft loans arm has approved $348m in funding for an electricity highway project between Kenya and Ethiopia. The $1.26bn Eastern Electricity Highway Project is the first step towards a regional power pool which many hope will curb electricity price increases and improve security of supply.

Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope) launched a new licensing round on 30 December, offering 20 exploration blocks. Eleven of the blocks are in the Western Desert, five in the Gulf of Suez and two each in the Eastern Desert and Red Sea. The round is due to close on 30 May.

Hyperdynamics is preparing to drill a well on the Fatala prospect but concedes “it’s hard to see a path forward” if it fails to find hydrocarbons. “We’ve put everything into this one well, we’ve put all the risk factors we can into it, so we think this is a pretty good chance of success. If the well does not come in, it’s hard to see a path forward, but it’s a five to ten times upside if it does come in, so that’s the risk/reward,” president and chief executive Ray Leonard told the Oil Capital conference in London on 11 May.

Earlier this month a suite of project agreements was signed for units V and VI of Morupule B, which will be developed as an independent power producer (IPP) project by a consortium of Japan’s Marubeni and South Korea’s Posco Energy Company. South Korea’s GS Engineering and Construction Corporation is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor. The agreements signed included a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the national utility Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), a coal supply agreement with government-owned Morupule Coal Mine, and a water supply agreement with the Water Utilities Corporation.

More transparent, investor-friendly procedures are promised to attract investors to key sectors like electricity, but high transaction costs and burdensome bureaucracy remain a challenge