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India’s Reliance Power Ltd (RPL) is planning to set up gas-fired power plants in Ethiopia, India’s Mint business newspaper reported. The government would supply the gas and Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) would offtake the power under a tolling arrangement

Global Energy is planning to plant castor as the first stage of a project to produce non-edible oil for the biodiesel industry. The Mozambique government has signed an agreement with Oilmoz to build a 350,000 b/d oil refinery. Sasol has selected Foster Wheeler South Africa to carry out a pre-feasibility study for the proposed Project Mafutha coal-to-liquids (CTL) facility .

As intrepid IOCs, most of them minnows, dip a toe into Ethiopia and Eritrea, and make plays to secure potential future reserves in Somalia and its autonomous territories, the Horn may yet prove to be the last productive frontier in the annals of African oil search. African Energy last issue reported from fractured Somalia’s Puntland territory. Below, Eleanor Gillespie analyses E&P prospects in Ethiopia and Eritrea, while Nadine Marroushi reports on developments in Somaliland.

Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has shortlisted two Chinese companies for the 300MW Morupule power plant expansion, badly needed to reduce the country’s dependence on imports from South Africa. Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Minister Ponatshego Kedikilwe said the government was also reviewing several proposals from independent power producers. The Morupule expansion should come on stream in 2011. Speaking at a briefing for business representatives on the power crisis, Kedikilwe said BPC had entered into a barter arrangement with a power station in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, for BPC to supply coal in return for power.

BOTSWANA: BPC seeks alternatives to Eskom supply; EGYPT: Lahmeyer gets consultancy order for Assiut HPP; ETHIOPIA: Gilgel Gibe 3 turbines out to bid; MOROCCO: EOIs sought for Abdelmoumen STEP; NIGERIA: Aqua Energy to build BOT hydro in Kano; SOUTH AFRICA: ABB wins $21m Eskom order

CONGO-B: Transformers contract; DR CONGO: Ruzizi 1 rehab tender; ETHIOPIA: Sterlite wins EEPCo contract; TUNISIA: Rural solar project; UGANDA: ERA approves Tororo plant

President Girma Woldegoirgis formally inaugurated the start of the main construction work on the 1,870MW Gilgel Gibe 3 hydroelectric project on the Omo River on 24 January (AE 123/1). The president said the project, being built by Italy’s Salini Costruttori, would help to meet growing domestic demand and enhance cross-border electricity trading with neighbouring countries.

Philippe Edmonds’ White Nile Ltd has signed a production-sharing agreement for a 29,000km2 block in the Southern Rift Basin. The PSA follows a two-year joint study agreement for the acreage (AE 117/10).

The World Bank Group has approved a $41.05m loan towards the financing of a planned interconnection between Ethiopia and Sudan as part of the Nile Basin Initiative. The loan to the Ethiopian government will help it finance its portion of the interconnector. The transmission line will run between the Ethiopian towns of Bahir-Dar and Metema, and up to the border with Sudan to connect the countries’ grids.