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The Kandadji irrigation and hydropower project on the Niger River, 180km north-west of Niamey, was launched in 2008 with an initial target completion date of 2017. The scheme forms part of a wider programme under the supervision of the High Commission for the Development of the Niger Valley (HCAVN), which aims to improve water supply for agriculture and reduce seasonal variations in the flow of the river. The dam construction contract was initially awarded to Russia’s Zarubezhvodstroy in September 2010.

Following months of tension between the Chinese owners of the loss-making Société de Raffinage de Zinder (Soraz) refinery and state distributor Société Nigérienne des Produits Pétroliers (Sonidep), the government has agreed to end Sonidep’s monopoly, paving the way for production to increase. In future, Soraz and Sonidep will both be authorised to export petroleum products. Once domestic demand has been met, they will share the surplus for export on a 50/50 basis, at a price fixed each month.

Société Nigérienne d’Electricité (Nigelec) has issued a general procurement notice for a project to expand electricity to seven urban centres. The project comprises the expansion of the grid, which is expected to cost $52.6m, and capacity building at Nigelec and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, expected to cost $8.72m. Finance is being provided by the World Bank Group’s International Development Agency. Construction works will include extending and reinforcing the grid in Niamey, Dosso, Tillabéry, Maradi, Tahoua, Agadex and Zinder; connecting 60,000 households to the grid; management and supervision of building work, supply of materials and meters; and management of connections.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has revised its crude sales contract with the government, dropping the price at which it sells crude to the Société de Raffinage de Zinder (Soraz) refinery to $57, from $70 previously. The $70 price was fixed in the contract for the 20,000 b/d refinery signed in 2008 because the government wanted price stability, but at current market prices this makes the refinery’s production uncompetitive.

The High Commission for the Development of the Niger Valley (HCAVN) is seeking expressions of interest for a contractor to carry out a study to determine the future management structure of the Kandadji hydroelectric dam. The contract is funded by the World Bank’s International Development Association as part of phase two of the Water Resources Development and Sustainable Ecosystems Management project. The HCAVN invited bids for a new contractor to build the project in 2014 after the contract of Russia’s Zarubezhvodstroy was cancelled in July 2013 due to non-performance.

Relations between the Chinese and Nigerien partners in the 20,000 b/d Société de Raffinage de Zinder (Soraz) refinery in southern Niger have worsened further, with the Chinese demanding that they manage exports directly, instead of via the state distributor Société Nigérienne des Produits Pétroliers (Sonidep), which has struggled with the logistical challenges of lifting and storing the refinery’s output.The refinery is owned 60% by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which produces oil from the Agadem licence in eastern Niger, and 40% by the state. Disputes over pricing have marred operations since the start, and local workers have been protesting in recent months about pay and working conditions.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has agreed an additional KD2.94m ($9.8m) in funding to the government for the 130MW Kandadji project. KFAED said it had previously disbursed a loan of KD5.7m and that the now-consolidated 24-year loan package, bearing an interest rate of 1.5% with administrative charges, represented 2.7% of the total project cost of around $1bn. In addition to power generation, the project aims to regulate the flow of the Niger River during the dry season to enable downstream irrigation.

Société Nigerienne d’Electricité (Nigelec) is seeking bids for the supply of electricity prepayment meters and an accompanying sales and management system. Bids are due by 22 January. The tender forms part of wider efforts to improve the utility’s performance and increase supply. Nigelec is expanding its transmission network with funding from the European Union Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund. That project aims to supply 14 additional areas on the outskirts of Niamey with electricity, enabling 45,000 connections; connect three isolated grids to the main networks, enabling the shutdown of three small thermal plants and creating 1,800 connections in 18 villages along the routes of the lines

ARKeX has begun acquiring an airborne full tensor gradiometry (FTG) survey on the R1/R2 licence area for London-based Savannah Petroleum. The ARKeX N344CS Twin Otter aircraft will operate from China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)’s Jaouro airstrip near the permit area. Savannah, which listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market in August, raising £29.3m ($50m), signed a production-sharing contract in July for the R1/R2 Area, which covers 30.5% of the original Agadem permit relinquished by CNPC in June 2013.

Shares in new Niger player Savannah Petroleum began trading on London’s Alternative Investment Market on 1 August, raising £29.3m ($50m). The company signed a production-sharing contract (PSC) on 3 July for the R1/R2 Area, which covers 30.5% of the original Agadem permit relinquished by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in June 2013. The Agadem permit has seen an estimated 77 discoveries from 99 exploration wells over the past five years. CNPC began production in 2011, and farmed down a 20% stake in the Agadem licence to Taiwan’s CPC Corporation in early 2013.

The High Commission for Development of the Niger Valley is seeking expressions of interest from consultants to act as lender’s engineer and construction contractor for the Kandadji dam project. The Kandadji Programme for Ecosystem Regeneration and Niger River Development aims to generate power and control the flow of the Niger River, retaining water during the dry season to maintain a minimum flow and enable downstream irrigation. A construction contract was awarded to Russia’s Zarubezhvodstroy in 2010 but cancelled in July 2013 due to non-performance.

Edinburgh-based Savannah Petroleum signed a production-sharing contract (PSC) with the government on 4 July for the R1/ R2 licence area. The signing ceremony in Niamey was attended by UK Conservative MP Stephen O’Brien, a former international development minister described by Savannah as “a former industrialist who has a personal interest in Niger and Africa”. O’Brien was born in the southern Tanzanian port of Mtwara.

Niger is relaunching the Kandadji hydro scheme with the help of the World Bank and making progress on a coal-fired plant. Mining schemes are leading private sector involvement in Burkina Faso, while projects in Benin and Togo suffer from a lack of Nigerian gas and the high cost of fuel imports.

A cabinet meeting on 6 June approved a production-sharing contract for Edinburgh-based Savannah Petroleum for blocks R1 and R2. A government statement said the blocks represented 50% of the Agadem Block, granted to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in 2007, suggesting the new blocks are relinquished acreage. Initial oil production from Agadem is supplying a refinery near Zinder and CNPC has plans to build an extension to the Chad-Cameroon pipeline to enable exports.

The Ministry of Energy and Oil is seeking bids for the supply and installation of transmission infrastructure to connect the 100MW Gorou Banda diesel plant to the grid. The work for the power plant, which is under construction at a site on the outskirts of the capital Niamey, is funded by loans from the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The BOAD is providing CFA40bn ($83m) of the estimated CFA80bn cost of the project, while the IDB is providing another CFA17.3bn and the government is providing the balance.