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The 22 January announcement that Globeleq and its partner IPS had reached financial close for the 253MW expansion of their 460MW Azito gas-fired plant at Yopougon, near Abidjan, was timed to coincide with a visit to London by an Ivorian delegation led by President Alassane Dramane Ouattara for the UK-Africa Summit. General Electric will provide gas turbine technology and services for the Phase IV project. The new and enlarged 20-year Azito concession agreement underscores Côte d’Ivoire’s ability to finance major private sector infrastructure projects.

As the pace of exploration speeds up offshore Morocco, Kosmos has begun drilling the FA-1 well on the Foum Assaka Block, while Cairn Energy has plugged and abandoned the JM-1 well on the Cap Juby prospect on the Juby Maritime licence. Kosmos’ well, which spudded on 16 March, will test the Eagle prospect, which the company estimates to contain 360m boe of resources in its primary deep-water Lower Cretaceous reservoir objective. It is expected to take three months to drill.

SDX Energy has announced a gas discovery with the KSR-14 development well on the Sebou permit in Morocco, and an oil discovery with the Rabul-2 well in the West Gharib concession in Egypt. The Rabul-2 well encountered 31 metres of net heavy oil pay across the Yusr and Bakr sand formations, with an average porosity of 20%. The well will be completed as a producer in the Bakr and connected to the central processing facilities at Meseda.

The official launch of the $850m Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Development Project is now scheduled for October, once the overhaul of the Aboadze thermal plant is complete. The state Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) is overseeing development and implementation of the three main aspects of the project: a processing plant in Atuabo, an offshore pipeline from the Jubilee field to Atuabo, and an onshore pipeline to transport processed gas from Atuabo to Aboadze. According to GNGC officials, the infrastructure is virtually complete. An official told African Energy that repairs to a 14km free span, where the gas pipeline is not fully supported on the sea bed because of an uneven surface, were completed on 18 July after several weeks of non-stop work.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia’s government is expected to revise the hydrocarbons law, which was passed in 2005 (Law 05-07) as a liberal document drawn up by then energy minister Chakib Khelil, but was then revised to take on a much more nationalist tone. Another revision, in 2013, disappointed international oil companies (IOCs) looking for more reasons to invest in Algeria, where IOC participation is restricted to 49% of a project’s equity and other terms are seen to strongly favour the government.

Sonatrach’s ability to supply enough gas to meet its international contracts continues to be the subject of speculation in the international markets. Sales to southern Europe have fallen sharply in recent years, mainly as a result of mutually agreed reductions in offtake. So the extent to which production bottlenecks may create greater problems for Algeria’s clients in Italy, Spain and elsewhere in Europe continues to be a matter of conjecture. However, what is certain is that pipeline exports are relatively far down Algeria’s list of priorities for gas usage. The current focus for concern over supplies is Spain. A financial source warned African Energy in early June that “infrastructure issues and local demand” might “start to impact gas exports from Algeria into Spain quite meaningfully”.

National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman Mustafa Sanalla has unveiled a $60bn five-year investment plan to increase crude oil production from 1.25m b/d now to 2.1m b/d by 2024 and gas output to 3.5 bcf/d. Speaking at the Libyan British Business Council in Tunis on 26 November, he said that LYD15bn ($10.5bn) would come from state budgets and the remaining 80% from strategic investors.The first step is to spend a relatively modest $1.2bn to raise production to 1.5m b/d in 2020.

Wärtsilä has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a 48MW gas power plant supplying Bua Group’s Sokoto cement plant in northern Nigeria. The plant will run primarily on liquefied natural gas (LNG) with low pour fuel oil as a back-up. Wärtsilä has been targeting the thermal market in Africa with its integrated gas power and LNG regasification technology in recent years.The power plant will supply a new cement line at the Sokoto facility using five Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engines, complementing two heavy fuel oil (HFO) plants already operating at the site, which is entirely off-grid.

Kosmos Energy has appointed Andrew Inglis as board chairman and chief executive with effect from 1 March, enabling current chief executive Brian Maxted to focus on his exploration role. Maxted, a founding partner of Kosmos, will serve as chief exploration officer and remain on the board, while current board chairman John Kemp will retire. Inglis joined Petrofac in January 2011 after 30 years with BP, most recently as chief executive of its exploration and production business.

President Macky Sall looked at his confident best on 12 June as he hosted a day of dialogue over the future shape of the oil and gas industry and the expected revenue boost to the Senegalese economy. The event sought to bring together politicians, business and civil society, but significant elements of the opposition boycotted the event in Dakar’s new conference centre. Sall’s opponents demand that the government should publish all the natural resources contracts it has signed to date.

A joint venture of Edison International and Petroceltic International has been awarded the North Port Fouad Block, in the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company 2013 International Bid Round. North Port Fouad (Block 7), is located offshore the Nile Delta and lies to the north of, and immediately adjacent to, the North Thekah Block, which was awarded to a Petroceltic/ Edison joint venture in 2013.

London-based Helios Investment Partners has raised more than $1bn for its third Africa-focused fund, making it the largest fund dedicated to African private equity. More than 60% of the capital comes from existing investors, and Helios said the investor base included sovereign wealth funds, corporate and public pension funds, endowments and foundations, funds of funds, family offices and development finance institutions across the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. Helios held the previous record for the biggest private equity fund in Africa, having raised $908m in 2011.

Mediterranean-focused Energean Oil & Gas has agreed to acquire Italy’s Edison E&P for an initial $750m. Following an initial public offering in March 2018, Energean’s strategy has been to become the leading independent, gas-focused exploration and production company in the Mediterranean, driven by development of the 2.4tcf Karish and Tanin gas fields offshore Israel. In Africa, the deal will give Energean producing assets in Algeria and a new development area in Egypt.

Wentworth Resources has opted to relinquish the onshore Tembo Block in the Rovuma Basin where it had been seeking a partner to appraise the 2014 Tembo-1 gas discovery. The company said in October that a re-evaluation of the Tembo discovery had indicated that it was unlikely to be commercial. Insecurity in the region forced the company to suspend activities earlier this year and in June the National Petroleum Institute granted a one-year extension to its appraisal licence.

A second, bigger power barge has arrived in Tema port, ready to start supplying the grid. Karpowership Ghana Company Limited said the arrival of the 470MW Karadeniz Powership Osman Khan follows its 2015 power purchase agreement with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG). Karpowership is expected to provide a total of 450MW to the grid for ten years.