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On 23 May, the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed a $2m grant agreement with the West African Power Pool (WAPP) for a project to reinforce the Nigeria-Benin interconnector. The funds will be put towards the construction of a 200km, 330kV double-circuit transmission line from Erukan in Nigeria to Sakété in Benin. The existing single-circuit interconnection between the two countries, commissioned in February 2007, is expected to soon reach capacity. Alongside the transmission line, work will include the extension or construction of 330kV substations at Erukan and Sakete and installation of Scada and fibre-optic systems.

Sinohydro will start construction of the 147MW Adjarala storage hydropower project on the Mono River in March. The Chinese state-owned hydropower engineering group announced on 27 January that the project would take four years to build and would entail the construction of a 3,700 metre-long earth and rockfill dam, with an average height of nearly 40 metres, as well as a powerhouse with three 49MW units, and connecting transmission lines. Sinohydro said that financing for the $550m project would be covered by a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

London-based Genesis Energy has signed a power purchase agreement for gas power plants with combined capacity of 360MW. Speaking to African Energy on the sidelines of the African Global Investment Summit in London on 2 December, chairman and chief executive Akinwole Omoboriowo said the first phase would involve a 100MW on-grid power plant using General Electric units and a 20MW distributed power plant using engines provided by the UK’s Cummins Cogen, part of the US-based Cummins Group.

The US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has approved five-year compact agreements with Benin and Liberia, worth $375m and $257m respectively, and a $44.4m threshold agreement with Sierra Leone. The grant packages are intended to develop infrastructure in the three countries, with a focus on electricity in line with the MCC’s intention to invest $2bn in support of the Power Africa initiative. Liberia’s compact agreement was signed with the MCC on 2 October but required ratification by the country’s House of Representatives and Senate before it could be passed into law.

The US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is planning a $370m ‘engagement’ for Benin, including grants for solar projects, network expansion, policy reform, support for the offtaker and more commercial tariffs, MCC vice-president Kamran Khan told the Africa Energy Forum in Dubai on 9 June. This “classic MCC package” is scheduled to go to the agency’s board for approval in H2 2015. The MCC board in December 2011 declared Benin eligible to develop a second compact, but it subsequently failed to meet MCC indicators and was not reselected as eligible until the US 2014 financial year.

The Maria Gléta thermal power plant has converted to natural gas from aviation fuel, significantly reducing its running costs, but is still not operating at full capacity. Originally planned to run on gas from the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), the plant, built by US company Combustion Associates, was brought into service in December 2013 and ran for seven months on jet A1 fuel. It was placed on standby in July 2014 and replaced by temporary power rented from Aggreko, which supplied 50MW, and MR International, which supplied another 30MW. The government said at the time that the aim was to reduce costs.

AGR Well Services is marking its 40th well in Africa, with the late October spudding of a well on offshore Block 2 for US independent Hunt Oil. Hunt signed a new exploration permit for the 1095km2 block in 2013 alongside previous operator Archean Benin Energy, a subsidiary of Century International Oil & Gas Corporation, and Société Beninoise des Hydrocarbures. The permit has an initial period of three years, renewable for one year. The drilling contract, awarded to AGR in July, is for one firm well, plus one future option well.

Niger is relaunching the Kandadji hydro scheme with the help of the World Bank and making progress on a coal-fired plant. Mining schemes are leading private sector involvement in Burkina Faso, while projects in Benin and Togo suffer from a lack of Nigerian gas and the high cost of fuel imports.

Norway’s TGS has started acquisition of a 3D multi-client seismic survey covering 2,022km2 offshore Benin, which has seen an upturn in exploration activity in recent months. The BR-13 survey will be TGS’ second 3D survey in Benin, and aims to build upon current subsurface knowledge and provide improved imaging of deep Cretaceous and Tertiary strata. The seismic is being acquired by the BGP Prospector, with a ten-streamer configuration. Data processing will be performed by TGS and final data will be available to clients from Q3 2014. The survey is supported by industry funding.

The need to maintain supplies of oil and gas in the face of growing competition from new players, and pressure to generate profits during a period when downstream margins are lacklustre, has led to an upsurge in activity by the majors in frontier areas like Benin, South Africa, Kenya and Madagascar, which were previously seen as the territory of more nimble independents. Total’s secretary general Africa Abiodun Afolabi told Global Pacific & Partners’ Africa Upstream conference in Cape Town on 27 November that the French major planned exploration drilling in five countries in 2014.

Afren spin-off Gasol has named former Opec secretary-general Rilwanu Lukman as chairman, replacing Cornelia Meyer, who stepped down with effect from 1 August. Lukman co-founded Afren and served as its non-executive chairman from November 2006 to December 2008, and as strategic adviser to the board from July 2007 to December 2008, stepping down when he was named Nigerian petroleum resources minister by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Beninese President Thomas Yayi Boni were present on 15 April as work began on a 25MW power plant in Benin. The plant is being built by Iran’s Power Plant Projects Management Company (Mapna) and is expected to be completed within a year.

fren affiliate Gasol has launched a multi-tranche, unsecured bond of up to $100m to fund initial development work for its liquefied natural gas import project in Benin. The first $20m tranche has been placed with institutional investors. The bond has an interest rate of 10%/yr and a maturity of three years. Any subsequent tranches will be subject to investor appetite.

Afren affiliate Gasol has signed a strategic alliance agreement with Azerbaijan’s Socar Trading SA (STSA) in relation to its proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project in Benin. STSA will supply the LNG for the project and assist Gasol with the provision of a floating gas storage and regasification vessel in Cotonou harbour.

Benin’s Maria-Gléta thermal plant was hit by a turbine explosion during testing on 7 January, causing significant damage. The 80MW plant has suffered a series of delays since the US’ Combustion Associates won a contract to build the plant in 2008 as a short-term government-funded solution to supply woes.