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Egypt-focused SDX Energy has signed non-binding heads of terms with Circle Oil to acquire the troubled company’s Egypt and Morocco assets. The agreement, announced on 11 January, has a 30-day exclusivity period. “Circle’s assets present an attractive opportunity to add material production and reserves at an attractive price,” SDX chief executive Paul Welch said in a statement. Circle has the producing Sebou permit and the Lalla Mimouna permit in Morocco, and the Al Amir and Geyad permits in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez, but has run into substantial financial difficulties due to payment arrears built up by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.

Eni has taken over as operator of Rabat Deep Offshore permits I-VI following approval from the Moroccan authorities. Chariot Oil & Gas announced in March 2016 that it had signed an agreement for Eni to take 40% (AE 326/13, 321/9). Chariot retains 10%, while 25% is held by Woodside and the state Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines has a 25% carried interest. Eni has acquired operatorship and a 40% equity interest from Chariot in return for a capped carry on drilling the JP-1 prospect, as well as a carry on other geological and administrative costs.

A recent crackdown on large-scale fuel smuggling on both sides of the Algerian-Moroccan border is essential to tackle contraband sales that have deformed markets in Algeria, which is having to import refined products and tackle subsidies, and in Morocco, which is losing tax and other revenues. There has been recent progress: the Casablanca daily L’Economiste reported from the kingdom’s north-eastern region in December on a mushrooming of legitimate service stations selling petrol and other fuel supplied by official sources – a reflection of a concerted crackdown on the smuggling networks that have long fuelled the region, most notably affecting Algeria’s province of Tlemcen and Morocco’s Berkane province and Oujda-Angad prefecture.

In the wake of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties (COP22) meeting in Marrakech, even more projects have been announced in the kingdom. Among recent moves: Meknès bioelectric plant – Olea Green-Food Meknès is intended to exploit olive waste under a public-private partnership in the agricultural region. Partners include the local LCM-Aïcha’s OleaFood, Casablanca-based Green of Africa and two Suez group subsidiaries in a biomass unit that will generate 15MW-20MW.

Leading Moroccan developer Nareva Holding’s Société Energie Eolienne du Maroc (EEM) has announced the launch of a 201.6MW wind project – dubbed Aftissat – to be built to the south of Boujdour in the disputed Western Sahara. With a December 2018 target date to enter service, the plant is intended to supply major industrial customers linked to the national high-voltage grid. This will require construction of a 250km, 400kV transmission line.Financing agreements for the MD4bn ($391m) investment were signed on 8 December by EEM and a group of local banks led by Attijariwafa Bank and Banque Centrale Populaire.

AIM-listed Sound Energy has announced a better-than-expected gas flow from the TE-7 appraisal well on the Tendrara licence, and has raised a net £24.3m ($32m) through a share offer as it talks up the potential for a “huge gas deposit”. The share offer, at the market price rather than a discount, used the PrimaryBid.com online platform to enable private investors to participate on the same terms as institutions.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has been awarded £68.9m ($85.8m) in the High Court in London, in a case against BP plc that centred around money owed to the oil giant by troubled Moroccan oil refiner Société Anonyme Marocaine de l’Industrie de Raffinage (Samir) for a crude oil delivery agreement made in December 2013. In September 2014, BP sold the debt on to NBAD, but Samir then entered into insolvency proceedings in November 2015 without settling the amount due.

Sterling and Wilson has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the 170MW first phase of the Noor solar photovoltaic (PV) scheme. The Noor PV I programme, being developed by a consortium led by Acwa Power, will consist of three projects: Noor Ouarzazate IV, with a capacity of around 70MW, Noor Laayoune (80MW) and Noor Boujdour (20MW). This is the first solar PV phase of the Noor Solar Plan, which has already seen three major concentrated solar power projects in Ouarzazate.

Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) has invited bids by 3 January for the refurbishment of generators and ancillary works for the 18MW El Kansara hydropower plant in the northwestern region of Rabat-Salé-Kénitra. The contract, to be financed from a loan provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for ONEE’s hydro rehabilitation project, will entail the supply and installation of new rotor windings, new structures and instrumentation for both generators as well as the disassembly and reassembly of rotor windings for both generators, and cleaning and maintenance of parts

Sumitomo Electric inaugurated a 1MW concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) plant at Ouarzazate on 10 November. The Japanese company signed a contract for the demonstration plant with the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) in May and started construction in June. Sumitomo said it also planned to promote its CPV business in other countries with high solar radiation across the Middle East and globally.

In the run-up to the COP22 conference in Marrakech, Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) head Mustapha Bakkoury announced the issue of MD1.15bn ($118m) of ‘green bonds’, to be purchased by local institutional investors supported by a Treasury guarantee. This was among a number of instruments Morocco unveiled during COP22 to help finance its ambitious renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes – and underline its status as one of the continent’s most innovative players.

Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) has issued a general procurement notice for the supply of materials, equipment and consultancy services for the major overhaul of a series of dams and hydropower facilities. The tendered works are part of a programme with a total estimated cost of about €35m ($39m) planned by ONEE to extend the lifespan of its hydropower plants and enhance their production and efficiency, as well as improve safety and climate resilience at various dams.

In a move to broaden the scope of energy efficiency efforts, Moroccan state energy investor Société d’Investissements Energetiques (SIE) has called for the supply, installation, operation and maintenance of sustainable energy units to reduce consumption and costs in a pilot group of 64 mosques, out of the 15,000 official mosques nationwide. SIE’s other energy efficiency schemes are focused on urban lighting. Bids for the mosque pilot project are due by 3 October. SIE is backing a number of smaller solar schemes across the kingdom, managing director Ahmed Baroudi said following an early September board meeting.

In a further move to reorganise the Moroccan electricity sector, state energy investor Société d’Investissements Energetiques (SIE) has received board approval to sell its 25% stake in the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen). SIE’s stake will be used to enlarge the stake in Masen held by Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE); officials told the Casablanca daily L’Economiste this would enhance synergies between the two companies. Many analysts believe Masen has gained in influence recently at ONEE’s expense.

The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) has launched a request
for qualification to design, build, carry out operation and maintenance (O&M) and finance the 300MW-380MW Noor Midelt Phase I solar project. Masen plans to use concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) units to produce electricity during daytime and secure five hours of peak production after sunset, from CSP with thermal storage. Following the pattern of recent contract awards in Morocco – and peer group markets including South Africa and Dubai – pricing of the electricity is expected to be very competitive to win the contracts.