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The International Finance Corporation’s IFC Asset Management Company has announced the first investment by the IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean (Alac) Fund, committing up to $35m in equity to support the modernisation and expansion of HeidelbergCement in West Africa.
DR CONGO: Snel management contract; EGYPT: Power plant switchboards tender; EGYPT: Ain El Sokhna tender; REGIONAL: Power line progress; SIERRA LEONE: Worker demonstration; SOUTH AFRICA: Renewable energy boost; SUDAN: Egyptians mobilise cement plant project; UGANDA: Tariff cuts criticised for being too limited; ZAMBIA: Solar energy gets funding
DANA GAS: New find as Egypt output tops 40,000 boe/d; KNOWLEDGE KATTI: Namibian consolidation; RANGE RESOURCES: Rights issue; FRANK TIMIS: Listings planned despite AIM ‘witch hunt’
Upstream E&P has escaped the worst of the global downturn, and buoyed up by the excitement over Ghana and Uganda, plus several gas developments, more activity is expected in 2010, writes Thalia Griffiths
The excitement over West Africa’s Transform Margin reflects the play’s potential to deliver oil finds in countries that have hitherto been of marginal interest at best (AE 174/1).
Following the success of the Venus B-1 well, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation plans to drill at least one more well early next year, to be followed by an appraisal programme in 2011 if the exploration is successful (AE 171/1).
As the battle for previously unfashionable West African assets heats up, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is talking to potential suitors for Kosmos Energy’s 23.5% stake in the Jubilee field. Kosmos says it has a binding agreement with ExxonMobil, but GNPC says it has a right of first refusal over the deal.
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire all have a history of turmoil fuelled by mineral wealth. Anadarko’s find offshore Sierra Leone is viewed with some trepidation by those who hope oil wealth will be a force for development, not for further conflict, writes Thalia Griffiths
Anadarko has hit 14 metres of oil pay offshore Sierra Leone, extending its Ghana play 1,100km to the west and raising the prospect of new finds in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, writes Thalia Griffiths
OANDO: Nigerian player plans major expansion; PETROBRAS: Brazilian major meets missions from Nigeria and Sierra Leone; RAYTEC/AFRICA OIL: Kenya, Puntland farm-ins
AFRICAN MINERALS: Share placing; AMINEX: Share placing
AFDB: Clean technology fund investment; MALAWI: World Bank funding; SIERRA LEONE: IFC opens new country office
Exploration drilling is finally getting under way offshore Sierra Leone with Anadarko due to drill a well later this year that could open up a new segment of West Africa’s previously less fashionable offshore, write Thalia Griffiths and Eleanor Gillespie
President Ernest Bai Koroma has promised Sierra Leoneans that work is almost complete on the long-awaited Bumbuna dam, though he warned that they would have to wait for the rains to fill the reservoir. In a televised address on 14 April, he said the dam, the power plant and the main transmission line from Bumbuna to Freetown’s Kingtom power station were complete.
Sierra Leone has invited bids by 8 May for the operation and maintenance of the 50MW Bumbuna hydropower project on the Seli River.
