Search results

The state-owned Administrative Capital For Urban Development – the developer of the New Administrative Capital being built 35km east of Cairo – has contracted a subsidiary of the Ministry of Military Production (MMP) to install 16MW of rooftop solar panels in the complex. At the end of September, it ordered Benha Electronics Company – also known as Military Factory 144 – to implement the project.

Norwegian developer Scatec is partnering with Fertiglobe and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt to develop a green hydrogen plant at Ain Sokhna, in a significant departure from the model pursued by other high-profile schemes. As well as being far smaller, it should be operational before the grander schemes have reached financial close.

Dubai-based logistics giant DP World has created an investment joint venture with UK development finance institution CDC Group. DP World will contribute its stakes in the ports of Dakar in Senegal, Sokhna in Egypt and Berbera in the Republic of Somaliland and says it expects to invest a further $1bn through the platform in the coming years.

Ras Ghareb Wind Energy, operator of the Engie Gebel El Zeit Wind plant, has signed a service level agreement with Hitachi ABB Power Grids to provide predictive maintenance for a 20km 220kV grid connection and 33/220 kV AIS substation.

Egypt is continuing to work on its plan to sell natural gas to Lebanon, but has tacitly acknowledged any deal to help out cash-strapped Beirut will not maximise revenue from its resources. Nevertheless, the proposal is not just an expression of regional altruism and Arab solidarity. It is also intended to further Egypt’s long-term geopolitical and economic interests.

The award of a 3GW electricity interconnection contract to link the Egyptian and Saudi grids should help Cairo deal with its substantial excess power capacity and encourage similar projects elsewhere in North Africa.

The Egypt-Lebanon gas deal shows Cairo’s determination to reinforce its indispensable role as regional leader, but the highly publicised arrangement also highlights some of the contradictions in Cairo’s commercial gas strategy, write James Gavin and John Hamilton

Bahrain-based Oak Group Holdings and its partners have begun construction on the outskirts of Cairo of Egypt’s first power plant using biogas derived from household waste. The project, supported by Bahraini private equity, is expected to be the first of three facilities all developed under the same co-operation protocol.

The cancellation of the only confirmed gas-fired generation scheme in Egypt’s project pipeline and its replacement with a large wind farm provides final confirmation that the future expansion of power capacity will be dominated by renewables and underlines the already established commercial terms that developers must be ready to accept.

UK-based SDX Energy reported disappointing results from its HA-1X exploration well on the Hanut prospect, which spudded on 4 August and reached the target depth of 6,000ft on 17 August. SDX on 18 August said its primary target in the Basal Kafr El Sheikh sand “had been eroded”.

A group led by Jersey-registered Kuwait Energy plc spudded ASX-1X, the second exploration well drilled this year in the onshore Abu Sennan licence, on 14 August.

A collision of interests over two of Africa’s most high-profile national mega-projects – Egypt’s planned El Dabaa nuclear plant and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) – illustrates that grand schemes come with heavy geopolitical as well as financial costs, and that all the players have to calculate their interests carefully in a volatile region.

The deadline for Egypt’s first fully digital upstream licensing round has been delayed by two months from the beginning of August to end-September.

Cairo has secured the hosting rights for the COP27 intergovernmental meeting next year, in further evidence of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s interest in using climate change as a diplomatic tool, but the short-term prospects for large renewable schemes will remain limited until the economy expands by enough to use up existing surplus generation capacity, writes John Hamilton.

Italy’s Eni seems gradually to be swallowing up BP’s African assets, with potential deals in Algeria and Angola building on a close relationship forged also in Egypt, Libya and Mozambique. These deals may be a sign of a deeper shake-out as European majors adapt to the demands of energy transition, writes James Gavin.