Search results

Turkish concessionaire Aksa Enerji has formally returned the 50MW Djéno gas-powered plant to service. Aksa has a 30-year concession to operate the plant and expand it to 100MW over the concession period.

With recent visitors headlined by Chevron and Eni, and a senior Russian oil apparatchik talking up pipelines and other business in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo is looking to turn an upturn in interest into financial commitments, as its maturing fields and untapped frontiers clamour for new investment to reverse a declining production profile.

Seeking to build African alliances as it navigates the fallout of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia has reiterated its willingness to help build a 1,500km petroleum products pipeline in Republic of Congo, from the oil hub at Pointe Noire to Ouesso in the north.

Eni chairman Claudio Descalzi announced on 2 August that the Italian major expected to export nearly 4.5bn t/yr of natural gas from Republic of Congo (RoC) by 2025, with exports starting in Q4 2023, following the latest of his many meetings with President Denis Sassou N’Guesso.

Turkey’s Aksa Enerji has confirmed that it expects the 50MW Djéno gas-to-power (GTP) plant, which it is refurbishing, to achieve commercial operations in July or August. Aksa is carrying out the work under a May 2021 contract with the government; it will then operate the open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) plant under a 30-year concession.

Nigeria and Angola are responsible for the vast majority of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) supply shortfall that is helping to sustain high global oil prices. Above-ground issues including theft and sabotage continue to contribute to a large deficit from the two sub-Saharan oil giants.

Italian major Eni has signed a letter of intent with the Republic of Congo (RoC) government to increase gas production and exports. 

With its redomiciling from Australia to Norway completed at end-February, PetroNor is now looking to increase production from its African assets. However, the investigation into former chief executive Knut Søvold continues, following his arrest in December over projects in Africa.

Oil output in Algeria remains below the amount allowed under the Opec+ arrangement – something which is also the case for several other big African producers, as shown by the cartel’s Monthly Oil Market Report for March. According to their official filings, almost all African producers are producing below their agreed quota.

Among Russia’s portfolio of interests in Africa – which include a large military sales business and nuclear development ambitions – state-owned entities such as Gazprom, Gazpromneft and Rosneft have built up hydrocarbons industry interests in markets around the continent, from Algeria in the north to Nigeria, and Angola and Mozambique south of the Sahara.  African Energy examines Russia's investments in Africa's upstream sector and its possible strategic objectives.

There has been a significant move forward for Brazzaville’s plans to develop its natural gas resources with Italian major Eni’s announcement that it will launch its Fast LNG export scheme in Republic of Congo (RoC) in H1 2023.

West and central Africa-focused independent PetroNor E&P’s chief executive Knut Søvold remains under investigation by the Norwegian economic crime agency, Økokrim, after being detained in a pre-Christmas swoop related to an ongoing case concerning corruption in African projects.

Republic of Congo (RoC) and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have agreed to move ahead with an ambitious ‘energy friendship loop’, which aims to connect the Eni-operated Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC) gas-fired power plant in Pointe-Noire with the Inga hydroelectric dam and the two capitals of Kinshasa and Brazzaville.

Controversy continues to dog financing from China, the world’s largest bilateral lender by a distance. Its debt provision has transformed the African funding landscape over the past two decades: according to African Energy Live Data, $38bn of Chinese investment was committed to power projects across the continent between 2014 and 2019 alone.

Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) state company Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) was “in good health”, hydrocarbons minister Jean-Richard Bruno Itoua told an African Energy correspondent.