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A cabinet meeting on 24 May approved a contract signed with Morocco’s Nova Power for a 25MW solar scheme in the northern city of Korhogo. The contract was signed in Marrakech in November during the COP22 climate change talks. The CFA23.6bn ($40m) plant will be built by Nova Power subsidiary Korhogo Solaire, and is expected to be operational in 2018, government spokesman Bruno Koné told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

State oil company Petroci will hold a roadshow in Paris on 13 June showcasing open acreage available for direct negotiation. The roadshow, to be held during the Oil & Gas Council Africa Assembly, comes as Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire await a ruling from the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea on their maritime boundary. This will clarify the situation for Total, which licensed Block CI-605 last year in deeper water south of its Block CI-100, which contains the 2013 Ivoire-1X discovery.

Ophir Energy has announced that the Ayame-1X exploration well in Block 513 found only oil shows and will be plugged and abandoned. The well was drilled to 5,394 metres targeting a number of Santonian and Turonian turbidite channel complexes. On the technical front, Ophir said the well had successfully drilled and cased the longest riser-less surface section in the region and had reached total depth in the subsequent hole section with a single bit run.

Operator Ophir Energy spudded the Ayamé-1X well on Block CI-513 on 29 April, using the Seadrill West Saturn drillship. The well is planned to be drilled to a total depth of 5,459 metres, targeting Santonian and Turonian turbidite channel complexes at a water depth of 2,835 metres, and is expected to take 30 days to reach total depth.

The European Commission (EC) is to add to its policy of promoting financial instruments that support private sector infrastructure financing with the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD), a new, estimated €1.5bn ($1.64bn) guarantee facility expected to be launched this year. Officials calculate the facility could be used in parallel with loans from the African Development Bank and other financial institutions, encouraging partners to take on more risk by providing a ‘liquidity cushion’ with significant multiplication effects.

Moroccan renewable energy developer Platinum Power has invited prequalification applications for the turnkey supply, construction and commissioning of two hydropower projects totalling up to around 300MW. The winning bidder will also be required to mobilise the required resources, analyse existing studies and undertake detailed studies, according to a tender notice published on 11 April. Under a memorandum of understanding signed in February 2014, Platinum Power was mandated by the government to finance and develop the Gao and Tayaboui projects on a build-own-operate-transfer basis.

Eni announced on 22 March that it has taken 90% stakes in deep offshore blocks CI-101 and CI-205, which were previously operated by Lukoil. Eni said the blocks covered about 2,850km2 in the Tano Basin, where the company is developing the Sankofa discovery on the Offshore Cape Three Points Block in Ghana. Block CI-101 is located 50km south of Abidjan in water depths of between 200 and 2,500 metres, while Block CI-205 is south of Jacqueville at water depths of between 2,000 and 2,700 metres.

The first 90MW turbine at the 275MW Soubré dam on the Sassandra River will start up by the end of March, according to CI-Energies director-general Amidou Traoré. All the turbines at the facility, which is being built by Sinohydro, will be fully operational in August, Traoré told reporters. Work began on the CFA331bn ($500m) project in 2013 (AE 270/7). Some 85% of the financing was provided through a loan from Export-Import Bank of China, with the balance met by the government of Côte d’Ivoire.

African Petroleum has raised $3.1m in a private placement on the Oslo Axess junior market.The placement raised NOK26,675,000 in gross proceeds through the allocation of 10,670,000 shares at a subscription price of NOK2.50/share.African Petroleum chief executive Jens Pace said the proceeds would be used to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and liquidity position while it works towards completing farm-out transactions:“The proceeds will also help us prepare for the exciting and approaching spudding of the exploration well with Ophir Energy in Q2 2017 on the CI-513 Block in Côte d’Ivoire.

Ophir Energy expects to spud the deep-water Ayame-1 exploration well on Block CI-513 in late May, targeting 240m barrels of recoverable resources with an estimated 28% chance of commercial success. Ophir has a 45% operated interest in the licence.The company expects to make investment decisions this year on options to start further wildcat activity in Equatorial Guinea, Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia in the next six- 18 months. In December 2016, Ophir secured its first exploration footprint outside Asia and Africa when it won a stake in offshore Block 5 in the latest Mexico bid round.

Ivorian power developer Starenergie 2073 has signed an agreement valued at CFA28bn ($46m) with Vinci Energies Côte d’Ivoire and Cegelec Maroc for associated infrastructure for the 372MW Songon thermal power plant. The Ivorian firm signed an agreement in August 2016 with China Energy Engineering Corporation to build the gas-fired plant. Starenergie says US developer Endeavor Energy, which signed a joint development agreement (JDA) for the scheme in 2015, is no longer a partner on the project. Endeavor said in October 2016 that it had invested several million dollars in the project’s development and was committed to enforcing its rights under the JDA.

A consortium led by Total has been awarded the rights to build and operate a 3m t/yr liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal at Abidjan’s Vridi port to meet growing demand from the power sector. A partnership agreement on 4 October was followed by the signing of a shareholders’ agreement between Total, which will operate the project with a 34% interest, Ivorian state companies Petroci (11%) and Société des Energies de Côte d’Ivoire (CI-Energies, 5%) as well as State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar, 26%), Royal Dutch Shell (13%), Golar (6%) and Endeavor Energy (5%).

The government is planning to raise FCFA360bn ($583m) before the end of the year to help clear debts to crude suppliers accumulated by Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) since 2008. A restructuring plan was approved by cabinet in October 2016 to help the refinery tackle its financial problems. The government is considering the best option for securing funds, but is expected to opt for long-term bank debt, to be recovered at least partially via a levy on pump prices.

The government signed a partnership agreement on 4 October creating a consortium headed by France’s Total to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal. “The arrival of LNG in Côte d’Ivoire opens a new era in the production of electricity,” energy minister Adama Toungara said at a signing ceremony in the commercial capital Abidjan. The project aims to develop, build and operate a floating storage and regasification unit with initial capacity of 100mcf that would gradually be brought up to 500mcf, according to an energy ministry statement. The ministry estimated the cost at $200m.

US developer Endeavor Energy has gone public in its dispute with Starenergie 2073 over the local partner’s decision to drop it from the 372MW Songon gas-to-power project, and sign up a Chinese contractor to develop the scheme. How the stand-off might be resolved is not yet clear, but legal action is likely. Its statement, issued on 3 October, said: “Endeavor is fully committed to enforcing its rights under the JDA and will seek redress against Starenergie and anyone tortuously interfering with its contractual rights.”