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Cegelec to expand grid at Arzew; Work starts at Kpone plant; Strategic energy study; Coal miner plans 500MW power plant; Higher tariffs; AFC backs power project; Mittal in deal with Coal of Africa; Miners complain of power shortages

CityView to work with local operator; PA completes MPS farm-in; Dry well on WEEM; Noble spuds Benita appraisal; Chinese partners; New reconnaissance licence for Czechs; Kunene well spuds; Key teams up with Pancontinental; Tower Block 5 drilling plans

Portugal’s Escom to build Luapasso; Norway sends gensets to Liberia; Work starts on Aïn Beni Mathar; Senegalese rural electrification; India to finance Isimba project

Office National de l’Electricité (ONE) has invited prequalified companies to submit proposals for a 300MW wind farm to be developed near the southern coastal town of Tarfaya (AE 121/7).

ANGOLA: CMIC contract for Luanda grid; KENYA: Bamburi Cement to increase biomass use; LIBERIA: Stanley to study Mount Coffee expansion; MOROCCO: Abdelmoumen STEP deadline; MOZAMBIQUE: EDM seeks bids to extend grid; NIGERIA: Chinese to build first coal-fired plant; TANZANIA: AfDB funding; UGANDA: French JV to supply Bujagali; UPDEA: European meeting to discuss reform study

BOTSWANA: BPC seeks alternatives to Eskom supply; EGYPT: Lahmeyer gets consultancy order for Assiut HPP; ETHIOPIA: Gilgel Gibe 3 turbines out to bid; MOROCCO: EOIs sought for Abdelmoumen STEP; NIGERIA: Aqua Energy to build BOT hydro in Kano; SOUTH AFRICA: ABB wins $21m Eskom order

Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has shortlisted two Chinese companies for the 300MW Morupule power plant expansion, badly needed to reduce the country’s dependence on imports from South Africa. Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Minister Ponatshego Kedikilwe said the government was also reviewing several proposals from independent power producers. The Morupule expansion should come on stream in 2011. Speaking at a briefing for business representatives on the power crisis, Kedikilwe said BPC had entered into a barter arrangement with a power station in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, for BPC to supply coal in return for power.

DR CONGO: More Chinese drop in; MOROCCO: More private wind power from DLM; MOZAMBIQUE: Brazilians to build Mphanda Nkuwa; NAMIBIA: Uranium miner plans 12MW heat from acid plant

Among the larger Saudi-controlled companies active in the African resources boom is Stockholm-based Svenska Petroleum, which belongs to Saudi/Ethiopian magnate Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi – one of that group of Saudi businessmen born into non-Saudi or marginal communities who have emerged as very significant players, usually by being linked to senior Saudi princes as ‘men of business’ during part, at least, of their careers.

AfDB – first private equity investment in Maghreb; CADF $90m for four projects; US EX-IM Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee

Doha-based Sphere Petroleum was launched in January 2007 as the first 100% foreign-owned company in Qatar. It was created out of the Perth-based Sphere Investments’ oil and gas assets, which were spun off. Sphere Investments – which took a secondary listing on Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) last July – is an Australian Stock Exchange-listed company with mining interests in West Africa, which has physically and financially shifted into the Gulf. Sphere Investments said “Qatar was selected as the preferred location for the new company due to the strong support from the Gulf region for our oil and gas strategy, oil and gas expertise and access to capital.”

In addition to major state companies that have long been regarded as major Gulf investors abroad, such as Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec), a number of Kuwait-based companies have been established in recent years with aspirations to become major E&P companies by investing in Africa and other emerging frontiers.

The Polisario Front liberation movement’s government-in-exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), plans to launch its second licensing round in Houston on 5 February

Morocco’s state power company is increasingly active in Africa and plans to open an international arm in London, to be closer to international financial markets and the developer community, and to create much-needed new revenue flows, its chief executive told Jon Marks in Casablanca

Plans for an integrated LNG regasification terminal project in Morocco remain far from implementation, despite reports that a site has been identified and the project could go ahead soon