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Paris-based private equity investor Eranove Group has moved quickly to issue a call for expressions of interest from engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) specialists to develop a new 350MW combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant. Eranove’s project fits with government plans to double national generation capacity to 4GW by 2020. The Council of Ministers on 31 August approved a plan for Abidjan’s two established independent power producers, Eranove’s local generation subsidiary Compagnie Ivoirienne de Production d’Electricité (Ciprel) and Globeleq’s Azito Energie, to further expand in the next three years.

Foxtrot International has completed a four-year, $850m field development programme, significantly raising output from Block CI-27. Oslo-listed RAK Petroleum said two new gas fields, Marlin and Manta, have been brought on stream following the installation of a four-legged, manned platform and related processing and pipeline facilities and the drilling of one exploration and seven production wells. Gas production from CI-27 climbed to an average of 170mcf/d in August 2016, constituting more than three-quarters of Côte d’Ivoire’s total. Production of oil and condensates from the block averaged 3,000 b/d.

Houston-based Endeavor Energy and local partner Starenergie2073, led by Richard Amon, are squaring up for a potential legal battle after their joint development agreement to develop Côte d’Ivoire’s 375MW Songon gas-to-power project turned sour. While Endeavor has funded two years of preparatory work and was awaiting the results of an EPC tender, Amon signed his own contract with China Energy Engineering Corporation to build and operate the unit.

Anadarko is planning a two-well exploration campaign starting in Q3 2016, after it completes its appraisal of the 2012 Paon discovery. Located to the south-east of Paon, the Rossignol and Pelican prospects will target similar-aged sands on trend with the Paon discovery, Anadarko said in its Q2 operations report. Pelican is in Block CI-527 and Rossignol is in CI-528, in deep water offshore Abidjan. Anadarko operates both blocks with a 90% interest. Following the success of the Paon-5A horizontal well, the company successfully drilled a second deep-water horizontal well at the Paon-3AR sidetrack, encountering 37 metres of pay.

French telecoms provider Orange has announced a programme to provide solar power paid for by its mobile money scheme, which will pilot in three West African countries from November. Orange said the programme aimed to help individual customers or communities generate electricity where no traditional electricity grids are available. The project will be piloted in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Cameroon from November 2016. Orange is providing solar kits or microgrids to rural communities to generate electricity.

Anadarko Petroleum has said the Paon-5A horizontal well drilled to appraise the 2012 Paon discovery on Block CI-103 encountered nearly 100 feet of pay. The well, drilled by the Dolphin Drilling drillship Bollette Dolphin, was Anadarko’s first horizontal deep-water well. In its Q1 2016 report on 2 May, the company said it was drilling the Paon-3A horizontal sidetrack to be followed by drillstem and interference testing.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced a €117m ($128m) loan for the Energos grid project for the rehabilitation and extension of the energy networks in Bouaké, San Pedro and Abidjan and the creation of a new national dispatching centre in Yamoussoukro. The project is also being supported by the European Commission with a €70m grant and the West African Development Bank with a €52m loan. It aims to connect more than 100,000 new customers, and improve the connections of more than 200,000 other customers.

Houston-based Endeavor Energy has pushed back financial close on the Songon gas-to-power project to the end of Q3 2016 from its previous target of December 2015. Songon is a multi-phase combined-cycle power project with purpose-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) import infrastructure and a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), generating 375MW in its first phase. Endeavor entered into a joint development agreement with local partner Starenergie 2073 last year, for Endeavor to take a majority interest in Starenergie and lead the development of the project.

It is easy to forget that Côte d’Ivoire remains classed as a ‘fragile state’, when viewed from Abidjan’s refurbished hotels and burgeoning malls, many developed by long-established Lebanese families who are trading up from their traditional supermarkets. The African Development Bank’s return after 11 years in Tunis exile is one factor pushing up real estate prices and school fees in wealthier neighbourhoods.

The Vitol-operated Aigle-1X exploration well on Block CI-508 failed to encounter hydrocarbons and is being plugged and abandoned. The well had targeted stacked Cretaceous reservoirs offshore San Pedro on a licence bordered by African Petroleum’s two blocks. Partner Genel Energy said the well concluded its Côte d’Ivoire drilling programme. On CI-513, immediately to the east, African Petroleum has farmed out a 45% stake to Ophir Energy under a new production-sharing contract (PSC).

The US’ Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) is opening an office in Côte d’Ivoire as it expands its operations in sub-Saharan Africa in line with the Power Africa initiative. To date, Opic’s sole sub-Saharan presence has been director Peter Ballinger, based in South Africa. As with other Opic representations worldwide, the Abidjan office will be based in the US embassy. A project finance expert has been recruited from the African Development Bank. Opic’s next planned office will be in Nairobi, for which recruitment is soon to begin.

Ivoire Hydro Energy (IHE) has invited prequalification applications by 30 November for an engineering, procurement and construction contract for a 44MW hydropower plant on the Bandama River. The Singrobo-Ahouaty project, 140km north of Abidjan, will comprise a 23.5 metre-high, 1.25km-long dam, 25 metre-long penstocks with a five-metre diameter, a water intake structure, a spillway, a 1.4km tailrace channel and a powerhouse equipped with two vertical Kaplan turbines.

The Export-Import Bank of India has approved a $24m line of credit to the government of Côte d’Ivoire towards the $136.3m cost of a project to connect the electricity grids of the two countries. The Exim Bank has previously supported transmission lines between Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, agreeing a $30m line of credit in late 2009. Only Indian companies can be awarded contracts funded using the Exim Bank line of credit. The deal is the Indian export credit agency’s 200th line of credit worldwide, amounting to more than $12.2bn.

Operator Vitol plans a well to test the Aigle prospect on Block CI-508, in deep water south of San Pedro. Partner Genel Energy said in a 20 October operations update that drilling was set to start towards the end of 2015. The well is targeting significant oil prospectivity in stacked Cretaceous reservoirs and will take approximately 50 days to complete, Genel said. Results will be closely watched by African Petroleum, which is seeking partners for two adjacent blocks.

Azonto Petroleum has agreed to sell its 35% stake in Vioco Petroleum to joint-venture partner Vitol, which holds the other 65 percent. Faced with delays and cost increases to the planned Gazelle gas field development, Azonto said it had concluded that a sale was the best way to realise value from its stake in Block CI-202. It said selling up now saved it from committing to a work programme that it could not finance, and that it could potentially consider alternative asset acquisitions.