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The 48MW first phase of a heavy fuel oil (HFO) plant to supply Antananarivo is completed and ready to start supplying the grid. A second phase of 28MW will start up in September. The plant is being developed by Jovenna, the fuel distribution subsidiary of local conglomerate Axian Group, owned by four members of the Hiridjee family, which is also active in telecoms. The plant offers a cheaper option than diesel generators and aims to reduce the use of wood fuel.

The Donors and Investors Conference for Madagascar held in Paris in December brought promises of investment worth $6.4bn to support the National Development Plan, which runs from 2015 to 2019, nearly $1bn more than the country was seeking. The World Bank Group promised $1bn in grants and concessional loans as well as $330m from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The African Development Bank and European Union are also significant donors, with the EU funding transmission lines and substations. The IFC is targeting investments in “agribusiness, infrastructure, especially renewable energy and transport, and finance”, said IFC regional director Oumar Seydi.

German development bank KfW is looking to prequalify consultants for a project to assist the Agence de Développement de l’Electrification Rurale in developing small hydroelectric power plants and associated distribution networks in the Sava region of northern Madagascar. The consultant will verify and update existing studies on mini and small hydro, support the project management unit in concluding concession contracts, monitor implementation, identify potential technical and managerial weaknesses of the concession structure and identify training needs. Bids are due by 10 June.

Sterling Energy has withdrawn from the Ambilobe block to focus on shorter cycle revenue-generating assets and partner Pura Vida Energy has taken over its 50% stake and the operatorship. Pura Vida, which farmed in in 2013, now has 100% in the block.

Madagascar Oil is set to lose its listing on London’s AIM as a condition for drawing on an additional $2m of debt. A framework agreement with the company’s major lenders and shareholders outlined in February set delisting as a condition for further financing. The group continues to operate the steam flood pilot facility in Madagascar and has over 150,000 barrels of Tsimiroro heavy crude in its storage tanks at the Tsimiroro Block 3104, but has yet to find a buyer, though it is in talks with Symbion Power on a fuel supply agreement for the Mandroseza power station.

US developer Symbion Power signed a protocol d’accord on 24 July with Madagascar President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, including a framework deal to develop seven new generation plants with combined capacity of 180MW and a transmission line in partnership with local investor Vision Madagascar (ViMa). The power plants comprise a 116MW heavy fuel oil (HFO)-fuelled plant in Tsimiroro, a 10MW solar unit in Mahajanga and biomass plants producing up to 5MW each at Nosy Boraha, Nosy Be, Antsiranana and Toamasina. In a separate Power Purchase Agreement signed on 29 July with JIRAMA, Symbion will restore and operate the under-performing 40MW capacity HFO unit at Mandroseza from state utility state water and electricity utility Jiro sy Rany Malagasy (Jirama).

The government has issued further tenders as part of its ‘Projet Pagose’ plan to improve performance in the electricity supply sector and at state water and electricity utility Jiro sy Rany Malagasy (Jirama). The Ministry of Energy and Hydrocarbons has invited expressions of interest by 29 July for a World Bank International Development Association-backed project to provide technical assistance to develop an electrification strategy, including evaluating the current programme, conceptualising, planning and implementing a national strategy, and preparing a national electrification plan. Applications can be emailed to [email protected], copied to [email protected] and [email protected].

The Sahambano-Ihosy mini hydropower plant in the southern central province of Sahambano was inaugurated on 8 June in the presence of President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, European Union (EU) ambassador Antonio Sánchez-Benedito and several members of the government. The 347kW station on the Sahambano River in Ihosy district was built by Italy’s Zecca Prefabricatti, with €2m ($2.18m) in financing from the EU. The new plant will supply the town of Sahambano, as well as the neighbouring communes of Ambia and Ankily and several other villages in Ihosy.

The Ministry of Energy and Hydrocarbons is drawing up a new energy policy and least-cost development plan and is seeking private partners to carry out studies for potential hydro schemes. The energy policy’s five aims are access to modern energy, affordability, quality of products and services, energy security and durability. The least-cost development plan will draw up a list of projects focused on renewables, as well as a strategy for the expansion of existing resources and development of new schemes to ensure supply for the next 20 years.

Operator ExxonMobil and its partner Sterling Energy have opted to relinquish the Ampasindava Block following a detailed subsurface reassessment of the prospectivity. Sterling said the production-sharing contract was in phase three of the exploration period, which was due to expire in July 2016. ExxonMobil had been planning a deep-water well on the Sifaka prospect, but drilling was repeatedly postponed amid the island’s political crisis. A 1,314km 2D seismic acquisition programme on Ampasindava was completed in December 2013.

Madagascar Oil has been awarded a development mining title for the Block 3104 Tsimiroro production sharing contract (PSC). This follows approval of the Block 3104 Tsimiroro development plan by the Block 3104 management committee. This is the first PSC to enter into the development phase in Madagascar. The development mining title is valid for 25 years with possible extensions to enable a development period of up to 50 years provided production remains commercial.

Sterling Energy announced on 27 April that CGG Services SA had begun acquiring 1,250 km² of 3D seismic over a high-graded portion of the Ambilobe block off the northwest coast of the island. Completion is expected within 45-50 days. Pura Vida Mauritius, which completed a farm-in to the block in December 2013, is covering the costs of the survey. The Ambilobe PSC, awarded in 2004, is in phase 2 of the exploration period with all minimum work commitments completed. Sterling and Pura Vida each hold a 50% interest, with Sterling as operator.

State water and electricity utility Jiro sy Rany Malagasy (Jirama) issued a call for expressions of interest (EoIs) on 30 March for its plan to concession the Volobé Toamasina hydroelectric and Mandroseza thermal plants for ten years, while the Ministry of Energy and Hydrocarbons issued an EoI on 10 April for a World Bank-funded contract to improve its management and prepare a medium-term investment plan.Starved of investment during the island’s political crisis, Jirama is confronted with an estimated $18m bill to maintain the Volobé and Mandroseza plants, whose malfunctioning was blamed for blackouts last year.

State oil authority Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Stratégiques has signed an agreement giving Spectrum ASA exclusive brokerage rights to more than 69,000km of vintage seismic data for offshore and onshore areas. The agreement also grants Spectrum the right to reprocess the various datasets and to license them to oil companies on a multi-client basis. Spectrum’s existing library in the region includes 3,626km of recently reprocessed pre-stack time migration (PSTM) data over the Morondava/Majunga basins to the west, 1,440km of PSTM data over the lle Sainte Marie area in the east, and a further 622km in the south over the Cap Sainte Marie.

A naming ceremony for the N’Goma floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel was held at Porto Amboim on 18 July as Eni prepares for first oil from the West Hub Development Project by year-end. The FPSO is ready for sailaway to Block 15/06, and will then start mooring and hook-up operations. The West Hub project is the first development that will come on stream from the blocks awarded in Angola’s 2006 licensing round. The development of the Sangos, Cinguvu and Mpungi fields involves the drilling of 21 subsea wells, of which 12 are producers