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The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a commitment of up to $165m for the Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework (Leaf) programme, which promotes solar home systems, green mini-grids and solar PV systems for commercial and industrial offtakers.

With oil prices rising above $100/bbl as geopolitical tensions in Ukraine ratchet ever upwards, exploration and production companies in Africa are enjoying a boom, but the prospects for merger and acquisition deals are mixed. Companies that had been planning to offload assets can be reluctant to let go of a lucrative earner, while buyers have an incentive to wait for prices to fall before agreeing a deal.

The commercial use of thermolysis or pyrolysis to convert organic waste into biofuels, syngas or pure hydrogen is still experimental in Africa, although the underlying technology is relatively well-established elsewhere. Most of the 22 operating biogas power plants recorded in African Energy Live Data use other methods. Early adopters of the technology include the Ford Silverton plant in Pretoria, H2-Industries and Oak Group Holdings in Egypt, Ghana’s Kumasi Technical University and the British Nigerian Pyrogenesys-led consortium. Success for any one of them will open wide new commercial opportunities, while also helping to address pressing environmental concerns.

A year ago, Dallas-based Kosmos was selling African assets, but it is now expanding its interests in Ghana in a deal which could help to provide cashflow for the first phase of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project in Mauritania and Senegal, writes James Gavin

Aker Energy has reworked its plans for the Pecan field and cut the break-even price from $45/bbl to $30/bbl. “We are committed to the project and have reworked the Pecan field development concept to a much more profitable and cost-effective phased approach,” a company official told African Energy.

Tullow Oil is planning to drill wells in the strategic Greater Ntomme and Tweneboa (GNT) area. Two strategically-positioned wells are to be drilled in the near- term that will help better define the overall resource base at TEN; there are options to accelerate future development.

Aker Energy is moving closer to acquiring a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to develop and commercialise the Deepwater Tano Cape Three Points DWT/CTP block, which contains the Pecan field.

Amandi Energy announced on 8 September that its 200MW gas plant reached commercial operations on 30 July. Construction on the dual fuel combined cycle plant, named Twin City Energy Power, began in December 2016.

Like so many governments, President Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration is struggling with the challenges and contradictions of energy transition in Ghana. Oil and gas (O&G) projects are under pressure, having been seen as a crucial way to boost revenues – which have fed into treasury coffers since the Jubilee field development – and drive power generation and industrial development, and create vital jobs.

Less than a fortnight after a court ruling that went against Eni, the Italian major announced on 6 July a significant oil discovery on the Eban exploration prospect in CTP Block 4, offshore Ghana. Eni said preliminary estimates place the potential of the Eban–Akoma complex between 500m-700m barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place.

The need to preserve land was one of the reasons put forward by Bui Power Authority deputy chief executive Anthony Osafo-Kissi for the development of the continent’s first floating solar photovoltaic (FPV) and co-located solar plant. A 1MW pilot project on the Bui reservoir was commissioned in Q1 2021, along with the first 50MWp tranche of an eventual 250MWp ground-mounted scheme beside the dam.

Ghana’s reputation as a donor/investor darling has taken many knocks, and more court battles are expected as international arbitration beckons in the battle between Eni and its local partner, writes James Gavin.

The Ghanaian government’s position in the offshore unitisation dispute is that Eni’s Sankofa and Springfield’s Afina fields have identical reservoir and fluid characterises. Springfield was awarded operatorship of the WCTP Block 2 in 2016, in its first upstream operation having previously been focused on oilfield services and fuel distribution and trading.

The Commercial Court in London has ruled that the Ghanaian government could not challenge an arbitration award made against it as its appeal had come too late. The arbitration was brought by Ghana Power Generation Company (GPGC), which procured two GE LM 6000 combined cycle power plants in Italy to be installed in Aboadze under an emergency purchase agreement.

Former Tullow Oil chief executive Paul McDade has fashioned a new company to take advantage of the changing landscape in the continent’s oil and gas sector, he tells James Gavin.