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The government’s Procurement Oversight Unit has released details of the tender for a utility-scale floating solar photovoltaic power plant announced at the Africa Energy Forum.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) announced on 12 March that loan agreements had been signed for two energy projects in the Seychelles. An AED31.2m ($8.5m) loan was agreed to fund a 5MW solar photovoltaic project being developed by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) on the island of Romainville, while AED33m was allocated for a 33kV grid on the island of Mahé.

The Public Utilities Corporation invites expressions of interest by 29 September from consultants to carry out a feasibility study and detailed design for the proposed Grand Anse Dam on the archipelago’s main island of Mahe. The contract is to be financed by the African Development Bank as part of the Mahe Sustainable Water Augmentation Project.

Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (Jogmec) on 1 March signed an extension to the Joint Survey Agreement for the evaluation of the area’s hydrocarbon potential with the Hydrocarbons Ministry and PetroSeychelles. Jogmec has been conducting geological and geophysical surveys including seismic surveys with PetroSeychelles since August 2013 under an exploration licence granted by the government of Seychelles. When the surveys ended on 29 February, an additional survey was considered necessary and the exploration licence and joint survey agreement have been renewed for two years.

Australia’s WHL Energy has said that Ophir Energy has relinquished its Seychelles blocks. “Under the terms of the Petroleum Agreement, the blocks revert back to the Seychelles government,” WHL said. It said national oil company PetroSeychelles had formally notified the original licence holder PetroQuest International that the petroleum agreement dated 14 April 2014 relating to Blocks 5B/1, 5B/2 and 5B/3 was terminated. WHL acquired the blocks from PetroQuest in 2010 and farmed out 75% to Ophir in 2014. “WHL Energy continues to work closely with the Seychelles government in assessing the forward strategy for this prospect,” the company said.

The government is assessing licensing applications for two newly delineated offshore areas to the west of the archipelago. PetroSeychelles chief executive Eddy Belle told CWC’s East Africa Oil & Gas Summit on 11 June that the government would not reveal the identity of bidders until the proposals had been approved. “Last week, we received a proposal for areas 1 and 2, and we are doing due diligence on the companies,” Belle said. The Seychelles’ approach to licensing is a blend of competitive auctions and open-door policy. According to Belle, companies may apply for a production-sharing contract at any time, with PetroSeychelles undertaking financial and technical due diligence to assess the bidder’s ability to meet its work commitments.

Ophir Energy has agreed a farm-in with Australia’s WHL Energy to acquire a 75% operated interest in blocks PEC-5B/1 and PEC-5B/2. Ophir will fund the acquisition of 1,500km2 of 3D seismic for up to $17m and pay $4m of WHL’s back costs. The company can then decide whether to withdraw, or fund another 1,000km2 of seismic for up to $12m, and 90% of the costs of a first exploration well, up to $30m. WHL said the deal was potentially worth $64m. “This agreement secures a substantial, operated footprint in an oil-prone frontier basin in which a number of leads have already been identified on the existing 2D seismic data.

Australian minnow WHL Energy has failed to agree farm-in terms for its offshore Seychelles acreage. The company announced a letter of intent in March, but said on 18 July the potential partner had failed to obtain board approval for the deal. WHL said the potential partner had designed a $50m-$60m work programme but there were timing problems with the Seychelles commitments needing to compete for funding with the rest of the company’s portfolio.

Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy developer Masdar has started up the 6MW Port Victoria Wind Power Project, the Seychelles’ first large-scale, renewable energy project. It accounts for more than 8% of the grid capacity on the archipelago’s main island of Mahe, where 90% of the country’s residents live.

Vanoil Energy shareholders have backed the company’s acquisition of Avana Petroleum in a recommended all-share deal. The acquisition, for which a preliminary agreement was announced last year, gives Vanoil a 25% participating interest in exploration areas A and B in the Seychelles, alongside Afren subsidiary East African Exploration, and 10% in Kenya Block L9, alongside Ophir subsidiary Dominion Petroleum.

Afren has launched the first 3D seismic survey to be carried out in the Seychelles, where the government plans a licensing round for 2013. The 3D programme will consist of two surveys carried out by Polarcus, using the Polarcus Adira vessel, and follows 3,733km of 2D data acquired in 2011/12.

Afren plc has been preoccupied with development of the Ebok and Okwok fields in Nigeria, where it is producing 42,000 b/d – roughly half of Tullow Oil’s production across the continent. But the London Stock Exchange-listed company has a big programme of exploration for 2013.

The issuing of Bahari Resources’ exploration licence in March followed the signing in February of an agreement between the Comoros, Seychelles and Tanzanian governments to delimit their maritime borders. A similar agreement was concluded in December between the Comoros, Mozambique and Tanzania. These accords “take the headache away”, said chief executive Peter Wakeling

Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec) has invested A$2.08m ($2.2m) in Australia’s WHL Energy, which recently acquired exploration acreage in the archipelago.

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