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With IFIs lining up to support the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative, the European Investment Bank is looking to play a significant role in kick-starting investment

Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) has given Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construcción a $57.3m contract to build five new 220/66kV substations and upgrade one substation as part of the Nairobi Metropolitan Ring transmission project. The contract was awarded on 1 November and the project is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Former SNC-Lavalin executive Riadh Ben Aissa in August signed a plea deal in Switzerland that could lead to his extradition to Canada, where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have charges against him (AE 271/20, 253/25, 249/20). He is also facing charges for money laundering, fraud and corruption in Switzerland, where he has been held since his 2012 arrest. Ben Aissa is tied to some $160m in bribes paid to Saadi Qadhafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, in exchange for contracts. Ben Aissa is also alleged to have been part of a plan to smuggle Saadi out of Libya.

The prospect of major gas developments offshore East Africa has brought a surge in demand for legal services in the countries involved. Initially, European law firms formed partnerships with local firms to access a new client pool, but as foreign businesses flock to the region, some of these partnerships are breaking up. As foreign players increase their local know-how, domestic firms may find it harder to compete, especially when many of the largest clients are also foreign multinationals.

Office Nationale de l’Electricité has finally opened the technical bids of consortia who qualified to build the 1,320MW Safi coal-fired power station.

Fred Olsen Energy subsidiary Dolphin Drilling has signed contracts with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation for the provision of the drillship

The Ksh192bn ($1.9bn) project was initiated in 2013 under the government’s 5000+MW project. The 5GW target, part of the Kenya Vision 2030 initiative, has become a key objective of the current administration. Kenya’s draft Energy and Petroleum Policy published in June 2016 targets installed capacity of 6,762MW (including 1,960MW of new coal capacity) by 2017, 40 months from project launch. The draft also includes a 1GW nuclear plant to be commissioned by 2024. The long-term plans would set the country on its way to an installed capacity base of 24GW by 2030, compared to 1.7GW in 2013.

Bujagali Energy Ltd (BEL) has closed financing on a $682m construction debt facility for the 250MW Bujagali hydropower project (AE 129/22). Multilateral and bilateral debt will be provided by the European Investment Bank, International Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, Dutch development agency Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelinsslanden (FMO), France’s Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Cooperation Economique (Proparco) and Agence Française de Développement, and Germany’s Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau. Commercial debt will be provided by Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays/Absa Capital, with partial risk guarantee cover provided by the World Bank’s International Development Association.

Oil minister Etienne Ngoubou has announced the award of 13 blocks following talks with a shortlist of bidders in Libreville on 28-29 October. Ophir Energy was awarded blocks A-3, A-4, A-5 and A-6, Impact won D-14, Marathon E-12 and Perenco E-14. A consortium of Repsol and ExxonMobil was awarded E-13, Elenilto and Petronas took F-12, ExxonMobil and Noble Energy took C-11, Petronas and Eni took F-13, Perenco and Petronas F-14, and Marathon and Cobalt G-13. The other 30 blocks on offer were not awarded. Companies had applied for licences for 18 blocks from a total of 43 available. 


A planned international tender for 4,000MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) power marks a shift in gear for the energy sector and its attitude towards foreign investment. Opening the energy sector to global capital has been, for some time, the obvious solution to the fiscal and social pressures created by a decline in hydrocarbons production and low oil and gas prices. But in Algiers, national considerations have often trumped economic logic.

Following a push from the Namibian government and positive noises from Tullow Oil and its upstream partners, Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) is inviting companies to prequalify for the turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for an 800MW combined-cycle gas turbine plant using gas from the Kudu field. The move adds to signs of life in the long-delayed project, reflecting an upturn in appetite across southern Africa for cross-border electricity supply schemes. The unit would supply power to NamPower, Eskom’s grid in South Africa and potentially other regional offtakers.

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has named Vera Songwe as regional director for West and Central Africa, based in Dakar. Songwe, a Cameroonian national who joined the World Bank Group in 1998, was previously World Bank country director for Senegal, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania. Her appointment is effective from 1 July and she replaces Saran Kebet-Koulibaly, who joins IFC’s management team in Washington as vice-president for corporate sustainability and risk.

South Africa’s SacOil has agreed to acquire Cyprus-registered Mena International Petroleum Company, which has the development lease for the Lagia oil field in the Sinai Peninsula. The field is at the development stage with 16-18° API heavy oil in shallow reservoirs and light oil potential in deeper reservoirs. The assets include production facilities and storage for 3,000 barrels of oil. Test production has started, and SacOil said it would implement a phased development programme to bring the field into full production.

State power utility Société Mauritanienne d’Electricité (Somelec) has issued tenders for a 120MW dual-fuel power plant able to run on fuel oil or natural gas, and a 30-40MW wind power project

Australia’s Elgas, which held a 50% option on ownership of the Benga Power Plant (BPP) project has agreed to transfer its shares to its JV partner Benga Joint Venture, a consortium of fellow Australian company Riversdale Mining (65%) and India’s Tata (35%)