Search results

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.

As the hype around hydrogen gets ever louder, governments and developers are putting forward grandiose plans to manufacture green hydrogen – ‘the new oil and gas’ – across the continent. African Energy has been sceptical about the hydrogen boom’s relevance to economies that are hard pressed to finance basic needs, but high hopes are being generated in countries like Mauritania and Namibia, where schemes to install an unimaginable 65GW of hydrogen-driven capacity are promised, writes John Hamilton.

Regional rivals Qatar and the UAE are both seeking a role in mediating cross-border disputes in East Africa – which some in the Gulf see as their geopolitical ‘near abroad’ – centred on Ethiopia. They are also searching for a role in post-conflict Libya. While there are potential benefits for African countries seeking investment and diplomatic support, the two Gulf states’ efforts suggest they may find it hard to remain neutral actors

Egypt’s role in brokering the 21 May ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has refocused attention on the two countries’ energy relations. It showed Cairo enjoying renewed relevance in both Washington and Tel Aviv, and potentially seeking to capitalise through commercial side-benefits.

London AIM-listed SDX Energy will push ahead with a two-well South Disouq drilling campaign, subject to ministerial and parliamentary approval for a two-year concession extension. Announcing Q1 results on 20 May, SDX said it planned to drill on the Hanut prospect in Q3 with what chief executive Mark Reid called “the transformational Hanut-1X exploration well”. 

With an over-abundance of natural gas, policy-makers are turning their attention to oil, with an effort to clean up EGPC’s balance sheet and push ahead with major downstream projects, writes John Hamilton.

Progress on renewables projects, and new regulatory and market initiatives, may calm fears the government is slowing the pace of wind and solar schemes that have become ‘too competitive’, writes John Hamilton

London AIM market-listed SDX Energy expects to start drilling activities in Egypt in June, with the first of four development wells in West Gharib and the start of a two-well campaign in South Disouq.