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The Agence Nigérienne de Promotion de l’Electrification en Milieu Rural (ANPER) is seeking expressions of interest from consultants for a project to install off-grid solar power systems as part of a national rural electrification programme financed from a $30m loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

President Mahamadou Issoufou formally launched the Niger-Benin export pipeline project on 17 September at a ceremony at Koulélé, in the Agadem region. The launch of the surface works followed the signing on 15 September of a transportation convention between the government and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The transportation convention sets out the contractual terms between CNPC and the Republic of Niger under which the pipeline will be built and operated.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a construction and operation agreement with the government of Benin on 5 August for a crude oil pipeline from Agadem in Niger to Sèmè port in Benin. “The more than 1,900km pipeline, including 687km in Benin, is the largest cross-border crude pipeline invested by CNPC in Africa,” the company said.CNPC built a refinery at Zinder in 2011 to process crude from its Agadem fields but has been seeking to develop an export route so it can increase production.

Construction of the 130MW Kandadji hydropower project on the Niger River was officially launched on 26 March at a ceremony presided over by President Mahamadou Issoufou. The hydropower plant is being built by China Gezhouba Group Company in tandem with a 26-metre-high, 8.7km-long combined concrete and earthfill dam, on behalf of the High Commission for the Development of the Niger Valley (HCAVN) as part of the Kandadji Ecosystems Regeneration and Niger Valley Development Programme.

A donors’ conference in Abidjan on 30 November pledged $436m of financing for the resettlement element of Niger’s flagship Kandadji dam scheme. Nearly 50,000 people in 24 villages will be affected by the development, which aims to irrigate more than 45,000ha of land to improve food security for Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries with one of the highest rates of population growth.

Niger inaugurated its first solar project on 24 November, the 7MWp Malbaza plant in the Tahoua region. The plant, which consists of 21,000 solar panels, was developed at a cost of $24.7m, with financing from the Export-Import Bank of India. It will meet the electricity supply needs of around 30,000 households in the departments of Madaoua, Malbaza and Konni, according to Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (Nigelec).

The council of ministers in Niamey on 15 November approved an amendment to Sonatrach’s production-sharing contract (PSC) enabling it to carry out appraisal work on the Kafra Block. Sonatrach announced a discovery earlier this year on the block, which runs up to the Algerian border.

Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Petroleum for the Dibella and Dallol blocks R5 and R6 in the Tenere and Agadem basins. The agreement was signed in September by Oranto chairman Prince Arthur Eze and petroleum minister Foumakoye Gado, but only announced on 30 October. The MoU enables Oranto to receive technical data on the blocks for review.

Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (Nigelec) has invited prequalification applications by 8 November for the turnkey development of a 20MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Niamey’s Gorou Banda district. The contract covers design and construction of the project, including the supply and installation of equipment, as well as its operation and maintenance for two years from commissioning, during which time management of the plant will be gradually transferred to Nigelec.

The UK’s Savannah Petroleum has announced a fifth oil discovery in the Agadem Basin with the Zomo-1 well and will now halt drilling until early next year. Savannah plans to submit a prefeasibility study for a proposed early production system (EPS) to the Ministry of Petroleum by 6 November, then carry out a well test on the Amdigh-1 well. Production from the planned EPS will start in early 2019, centred on the Amdigh field. Crude oil will be transported 120km to the Jaouro Export Station (JES), initially by truck, for delivery into the 463km Agadem-Zinder crude oil pipeline to the Société de Raffinage de Zinder (Soraz) refinery.

The government of Niger has announced a framework agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for a $4bn export pipeline to transport crude oil to the international market. Petroleum minister Foumakoye Gado, who secured the agreement at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing in early September, told the daily Le Sahel that the pipeline would be developed as a public-private partnership, with CNPC recouping its investment through crude sales.

London-based Savannah Petroleum has announced a fourth oil discovery in the Agadem Rift Basin and plans to drill a fifth well. Savannah said on 15 August the Eridal-1 exploration well had encountered 13.6 metres of oil-bearing reservoir sandstones in the Eocene Sokor Alternances objective. The well is being suspended for future re-entry and the rig is being moved to the Zomo-1 well site. Savannah, which is exploring acreage relinquished by China National Petroleum Corporation in the Agadem, has options for a further four wells.

Société Nigérienne d’Electricité has invited expressions of interest by 1 August from consultants to carry out a technical and economic feasibility study for the electrification of 100 rural communities, comprising around 200,000 inhabitants, through the installation of solar photovoltaic or hybrid mini-grids.

The governments of Niger and Nigeria signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 24 July for the construction of an export pipeline from the Agadem Rift Basin (ARB) to a new refinery in Katsina State. The MoU was signed by the two countries’ oil ministers and witnessed by President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger and President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria in a ceremony attended by representatives of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the UK’s Savannah Petroleum.

Savannah Petroleum has announced a third discovery in the Agadem Rift Basin and is exercising an option for a fourth well. The Kunama-1 well in the R3 portion of the R3/R4 PSC Area was drilled to a total depth of 2,460 metres and encountered nine metres of oil-bearing reservoir sandstones in the primary Eocene Sokor Alternances objective. The well is being suspended for future re-entry.