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State utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) has reported record demand, at 21.45 on 26 July, when consumption reached 6,050MW, 190MW higher than the previous peak, recorded in 2015. Air conditioners and agricultural pumps have been working overtime during a heat wave.

Acwa Power Khalladi has confirmed final orders to suppliers and contractors for the construction of its 10MW wind power project near Tangier. Saudi-based Acwa Power said all conditions precedent for its landmark project financing had been satisfied. Acwa Power Khalladi (formerly known as UPC Renewables) is 75% owned by Acwa Power and 25% owned by the Arif Investment Fund, managed by Infra Invest. The Khalladi project will directly supply industrial clients connected to the high-voltage network. The MAD1.7bn ($173m) project began construction in November 2015.

AIM-listed Sound Energy says it has achieved a “highly commercial” flow rate from its Tendrara gas discovery. Sound said partner Oil & Gas Investment Fund had expressed interest in funding, building and operating a new pipeline connecting Tendrara to the Gazoduc Maghreb Europe pipeline, which runs from Algeria’s Hassi R’mel fields through Morocco to Spain. The cost of the new Tendrara pipeline is estimated at $50m.

Hague and London Oil (Halo)’s acquisition of Premier Oil’s assets in the disputed Western Sahara has made it – for the time being – the most significant holder of exploration rights issued by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). It now owns stakes in eight licences. Ultimately, Halo intends to transfer these rights to its wholly owned subsidiary Vermeer Exploration before selling off 51% to private investors. Despite the potential controversy associated with exploration rights in the disputed territory, Halo has avoided being drawn into possible conflicts and will start exploration only when the SADR authorities inform the company that it is possible to do so.

A joint venture of France’s Sofregaz and Denmark’s Ramboll has won an international tender for the selection of a technical adviser for a planned scheme to import liquefied natural gas to supply new power plants. Office Nationale de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable said bids were submitted in December. The government plans to import 5bcm/yr of gas to supply 2.4GW of new combined-cycle gas turbine capacity to be installed in 2020-25 under its gas-to-power road map. With a similar amount to be installed in the following five years, 10bcm/yr will be needed in 2025-30.

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) – previously known as the Norwegian Petroleum Fund – decided on 28 June to exclude Cairn Energy and Kosmos Energy from its portfolio because of the two companies’ decision to explore for oil and gas in areas offshore Western Sahara under licences issued by the government of Morocco. According to a statement by Norges Bank, which runs the fund, its executive board’s decision was made following an “assessment of the risk of particularly serious violations of fundamental ethical norms”.

State-owned developer Masen’s expanded role has been confirmed with its conversion into the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy, from its former more restricted remit as Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy. Legislation that passed through the government council on 24 June gives Masen the leading role in Morocco’s ambitious renewable energy programme, which seeks to generate 52% of the kingdom’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030 – a forecast that will be replayed again and again ahead of the COP22 climate talks, to be held in Marrakech on 7-18 November.

Local developer Nareva Holding expects financial close of a $400m facility by November to allow it to finance the installation of 200MW of new capacity in the south, supported by a 400kV, 250km transmission line, strategy and business development director Adil Khamis said during a visit to London on 23 June.The company has emerged as Morocco’s leading private developer, winning a lion’s share of wind power projects under the Law 13-09 structure allowing industrial users to install their own renewable generation, as well as major privately financed schemes awarded by Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE).

The government is working on the final – and most sensitive – phase of its price liberalisation and subsidy reduction programme, covering butane and sugar, general affairs and governance minister Mohammed Louafa told the lower house of parliament on 8 June. But implementation of the reform “will be the responsibility of the government named following the general election on 7 October”, Louafa said. This saves the current administration courting unpopularity in the four months before polling.

National oil company Office National des Hydrocarbures (Onhym) has issued a tender inviting international companies to partner it in finding and developing onshore gas reserves in the Rharb Centre permit, previously licensed to Gulfsands Petroleum. The area has produced gas over many years since Société Chérifienne des Pétroles made its first find in 1949, and benefits from established infrastructure piping gas from several Rharb Basin fields to Kenitra.

Chariot Oil & Gas has decided to relinquish the C-19 licence offshore Mauritania, but has converted the Mohammedia reconnaissance licence offshore Morocco into exploration permits. Chariot will have a 75% interest and operatorship of the Mohammedia Offshore exploration permits I-III, in partnership with the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines, which holds a 25% carried interest. Chariot said it had decided not to enter into the first renewal phase of the C-19 licence after failing to find a farm-in partner.

Despite promises from its Saudi-led management and legal advisers that billionaire owner Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi would resolve the financial crisis at Société Anonyme Marocaine de l’Industrie du Raffinage (Samir), the refiner remains in deep crisis, with creditors circling and no sign of the Mohammedia plant reopening. Following months of argument and delays, and an apparent agreement to restructure outstanding debt with a majority of creditors, the Tribunal de Commerce de Casablanca appeal court ruled on 1 June that Samir should go into liquidation as it was “irredeemably damaged”.

London-listed Sound Energy has found gas shows from the Tagi structure with the first of two appraisal wells on the Tendrara licence. Sound, which has a field management agreement with Schlumberger for the licence, said the TE6 well had been drilled to a total depth of 2,665 metres and found 89 metres of gas pay. The well intersected the Tagi reservoir at a depth of 2,535 metres, some 12 metres higher than the previous TE5 well.

The much-anticipated national LNG development plan is going ahead with a strengthened advisory team and revised targets, working to new bid deadlines, which take account of the ambitious integrated project’s scale and follow officials’ analysis of input from potential investors. Some of the heads of state who have lobbied King Mohammed VI, and among the 100-plus potential liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers who have lined up to see Ministry of Energy, Mining, Water and Environment senior adviser Abdellaziz El Gamah, may find it worth the wait: the long-term quantity of gas required at the new Jorf Lasfar terminal is now expected to be 10bcm/yr, double the original forecast.

Sound Energy spudded the first well of a two-well appraisal programme on the onshore Tendrara licence on 20 April. The company is using the National 110 UE (1500 HP) rig, which has been brought in from Mauritania. The well is expected to be drilled to a total depth of 2,640 metres and to take 80 days to complete.