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Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) has invited bids by 28 January for the turnkey construction of two 60kV single circuit lines. Two separate tenders have been published for the supply and installation of equipment including metal pylons, concrete poles, conductor and ground-wire cables and accessories for a line of approximately 35km between Imzouren and Beni Hadiffa on Morocco’s northern coastline as well as for a line with a total length of about 75km between the 225/60kV substation of Errachidia and the 60/22kV substation of Erfoud in the eastern region of Meknès-Tafilalet.

In a case that could unsettle deep-water gas investors – if Tanzanian courts prove more willing to give it time than other jurisdictions have been – South African businessman Moto Mabanga has brought a case to the Tanzanian High Court’s Commercial Division to pursue a claim that he was muscled out of three offshore gas blocks by his former partners BG (now owned by Royal Dutch Shell), Ophir Energy and Pavilion Energy.

The Ethiopian authorities are making progress on plans to create a national oil company, which will handle the government’s participations in licences and work to accelerate exploration and production, but the institution’s name and key operational issues have yet to be decided, senior oil official Ketsela Tadesse told African Energy.

US developer ContourGlobal is hoping for first gas by the end of the month at the trailblazing KivuWatt methane gas power project on Lake Kivu. The facility aims to produce up to 100MW from four units extracting methane dissolved in the deep water of Lake Kivu, reducing the risk of a potentially catastrophic release of the gas (AE 296/1). The barge-mounted gas-collecting unit for the first 25MW phase has been moored in position on the lake, and riser pipes are being connected to the separators. The pipes and separator will then be lowered under the barge and begin extracting gas, which will initially be flared until all the equipment is commissioned and gas can be piped to the onshore power plant at Kibuye.

The UK is planning a first British Renewable Energy Trade Mission to Morocco, on 10-11 November, in a push to raise the number of British firms working in the kingdom. UK trade envoy to Morocco Lord Sharman and National Agency for the Development of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (Aderee) head Saïd Mouline will be among keynote speakers at a seminar. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Casablanca representative Fatima-Zahra Kerdoum said other countries had moved more quickly to win orders from the renewables boom.

The Islamic Development Bank is providing the government with $56m to finance the second phase of a project to rehabilitate and extend the electricity network in Conakry. Work will be carried out in the Matam, Matoto and Lansanayah districts, and Electricité de Guinée intends to use some of the funds to supervise the work. Tenders will be issued over the coming months, with contracts announced as they become available.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering supporting the construction of the 34MW Kinguélé Aval. The private investment arm of the World Bank disclosed on 18 June that it will propose an A Loan of up to €40m, a senior concessional loan from IFC as implementing entity of the Canada-IFC Renewable Energy Program for Africa of up to $25m as well as risk management products such as interest rate and/or cross currency swaps.

The Algerian security services achieved their main aim of eliminating the Islamist militants who had invaded the In Aménas gas processing plant, but the loss of life and wider concerns about deteriorating Sahara/Sahel risk pose critical questions about operations in the region.

Total Gabon has made a first discovery in Gabon’s new pre-salt play with the Diaman #1B well on the Diaba Block (AE 253/12). The well was drilled to a total depth of 5,585 metres, and encountered 50-55 metres of net hydrocarbons in the target pre-salt formations, which Total’s partner Cobalt International said were thought to be gas and condensate. The well was drilled in 1,729 metres of water, more than 100km from the nearest commercial pre-salt discovery.

African Petroleum Corporation has applied for a listing on Oslo’s junior Axess market, following the appointment of new management in recent months. Controversial former chairman Frank Timis stepped down in October. “Due to historical events related to other listed companies where he has been involved, Mr Timis will not be employed by the company nor hold board positions nor play any governance role going forward,” the company said. Before founding African Petroleum, Timis was chief executive of Regal Petroleum, whose directors were fined £600,000 in 2009, after a Financial Services Authority investigation, for misleading investors on the viability of an oil well in the Aegean Sea in 2003. African Petroleum and its sister company International Petroleum listed on Australia’s National Stock Exchange in 2010 after the main Australian Stock Exchange declined to have Timis involved.

Africa Energy Corporation has agreed with Pancontinental Oil & Gas to take a 10% stake in the Tullow Oil-operated PEL 37 in the central Walvis Basin. Pancontinental’s costs in the joint venture, including drilling the first exploration well, are already carried by Tullow, and the same terms will apply to Africa Energy.The company has agreed to pay Pancontinental $1.7m at the close of the farm-out agreement, and another $4.8m when the first exploration well starts drilling.

UK-based engineering consultancy Penspen has signed a contract with the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to carry out a feasibility study examining the performance of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) and its possible future network extension to other Ecowas states.Penspen said the study would look at how WAGP has performed since its completion and what measures need to be taken to optimise its operation. The work includes a technical and economic analysis of the extension of the pipeline

After two years of negotiations, Sithe Global and Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) initialled term sheets for the 147MW Ruzizi III hydroelectric project on 18 September with the Communauté Economique des Pays des Grands Lacs (CEPGL). The agreement confirms the companies as successful bidders and gives them the go-ahead to negotiate specific contract terms over the coming months. The project is the third in a series of hydro schemes on the Ruzizi River, which connects lakes Kivu and Tanganyika on the borders of Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. The 30MW Ruzizi I and 44MW Ruzizi II plants are being rehabilitated, and a 287MW Ruzizi IV scheme is still at the planning stage.

CIC Energy Corporation on 27 March announced it had completed a private placement with Vitol Energy (Bermuda), raising C$10m, giving Vitol 9.1% of CIC’s issued common shares; Eskom Holdings has invited bids by 1 May for the design, supply and installation of its much-anticipated 100MW Central Receiver Concentrating Solar Power Plant at Upington; The City of Johannesburg plans to spend over R100bn ($13.2bn) in the next decade on economic and social infrastructure; In a 23 March statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, South Africa-incorporated, Namibia-focused Southern Electricity Company (SELCo) reported a loss of R0.0393/share and headline loss of R0.0416/share; Tata Power Company was advised by AZB & Partners (led by Shameek Chaudhuri with Manan Mehta) in creating its new electricity development joint venture, Cennergi, with major South African player Exxaro Resources

Presidential adviser on energy Rilwanu Lukman has said he expects final government approval of his report on the restructuring of the Nigerian hydrocarbons sector “in the next week or two”.