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The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has called for two gas-fired power plants to be constructed urgently as a spinning reserve to balance renewable energy sources in the national grid. The spinning plants, with a proposed total capacity of 160MW, would stabilise the grid by balancing out fluctuations in wind and solar power. Hydropower currently acts as a spinning reserve, but supply is limited and vulnerable to drought, while geothermal, which serves as Kenya’s baseload, cannot be ramped up and down easily.

The governments of Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone have signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to share experience in oil and gas exploration.

Cameroon may be the Central African Economic and Monetary Community’s largest economy, but it remains a political and commercial enigma. Decision-making can move at a glacial pace, in a political system dominated by President Paul Biya, whose apparent aspirations to be re-elected to a fourth seven-year term are a cause of concern, not least for a youthful population living in poor economic and social circumstances. However, progress has been made in delivering services, reflected in the energy sector by national utility Eneo, owned by UK private equity investor Actis, and Victoria Oil and Gas’s growing business selling gas to industry and consumers in commercial hub Douala.

Ghana has been forced to introduce load-shedding after low rainfall, technical problems and plant maintenance reduced available power. “With installed generation capacity of about 2,845.5MW, dependable capacity of less than 2,300MW and a suppressed peak demand of about 2,130MW, with no redundancy, the power inadequacy is obvious,” power minister Kwabena Donkor told a 2 February news briefing.Among the problems he cited, low water levels meant two units at Akosombo were out of operation while the other four were operating at 125MW instead of the rated 170MW.

BP and Kosmos Energy on 21 December announced a final investment decision for Phase 1 of the groundbreaking Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas project. Kosmos said the decision was made with BP and the two state oil companies, Petrosen and Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier, following a meeting to agree final elements held in Nouakchott between President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania and President Macky Sall of Senegal.

Petroceltic International, the formerly Dublin-based and London-listed exploration company, has run into difficulties with the Algerian authorities over a contract approval at its Ain Tsila development, formally scheduled for first gas in 2020. The company had hoped to award an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build a gas plant at the site by the end of 2017, but this did not happen and delays are continuing. In early March, two statements on the company’s official Twitter feed blamed national oil and gas company Sonatrach for the hold-up.

Tanzania plans to start construction this year of a fertiliser plant in the south of the country, using some of its newly discovered reserves of natural gas. “The plant, which will become Africa’s biggest fertiliser producer, will have a capacity of producing 3,800 t/d and will employ up to 5,000 people,” a presidency statement said.

The fall in the oil price combined with Egypt’s failure to remit funds owed for oil and gas supplied to the domestic market has forced the management of Dublin-based Petroceltic International to put the company up for sale while simultaneously divesting its Egyptian assets. Italy’s Edison International has already taken over Petroceltic’s stakes in the prime offshore blocks that it operates, at what may turn out to be a bargain price. Several producing onshore Egypt fields will be sold next, leaving the Ain Tsila gas development in Algeria as the core asset to be sold with the company.

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) announced a final investment decision on 23 December for the Assa North gas development project in Imo State. The project is expected to produce 300mcf/d of gas at peak, which will be treated at SPDC’s gas processing facility and distributed through the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben pipeline network.SPDC managing director Osagie Okunbor said the project was a key element in the Seven Critical Gas Projects initiative led by the Ministry of Petroleum and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Investor Crown Ocean Capital has called a general meeting of Bowleven shareholders to try to remove most of the company’s board and change its strategy. Monaco-based Crown Ocean, which holds 10.62% in Bowleven, argues that the Edinburgh-based company’s spending is unjustifiable. It wants to transform Bowleven into a holding company focused on returning cash to shareholders, and seeks to remove six of the board’s seven members and appoint two of its own.Crown Ocean said in a stock market filing that Bowleven’s cash holdings exceeded the company’s market value at end-2016.

Sonelgaz subsidiary Sociéte Algérienne de Production de l’Electricité has given Italy’s Ansaldo Energia a E170m contract to supply the 340MW Ain Djasser III open cycle gas turbine power plant in Batna. The contract was awarded following an international tender. Ansaldo also built the 260MW Ain Djasser I, commissioned in August 2009, and the 260MW Ain Djasser II. The new plant will comprise two 170MW gas turbines. Ansaldo already has a total installed capacity of more than 4,400MW in Algeria.

President João Lourenço has issued a decree aimed at speeding up the oil and gas licensing process to encourage new investment in the hydrocarbons sector and revitalise exploration to replace depleting reserves. Presidential Decree 86/18, dated 2 April, eliminates the prequalification phase of the licensing process for all new acreage allocated by state petroleum company Sonangol. The legislation also raises the value threshold above which purchases or contracts for services require public tender.

Tokyo Gas Company and Centrica LNG Company have jointly signed heads of agreement (HoA) for the long-term offtake of 2.6m t/yr of liquefied natural gas from Mozambique Area 1 as operator Anadarko Petroleum prepares for a final investment decision (FID) in H1 2019. Anadarko said the agreement represented a significant portion of the sales target it had set to enable FID on the project, which would develop a two-train onshore plant at Afungi in northern Mozambique with capacity of 12.8m t/yr processing gas from the Golfinho/Atum fields.

Backed by the US Power Africa initiative, Endeavor Energy has four projects close to sanction in West Africa aiming to fill short to medium-term demand gaps with a mix of imported and domestic gas and heavy fuel oil. Two of the projects are in Ghana, where there is urgent need for new capacity. The 344MW Bridge Power fast deployment scheme at Tema aims to tackle the problem of limited gas supply in Ghana’s eastern hub by using imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Chief executive Sean Long told African Energy in an interview that LPG was cheaper than crude oil or diesel in the short term and the plant was designed to switch to natural gas once it became available, whether via the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) or Ghanaian domestic gas.

Easigas and Reatile Gaz have agreed to merge their respective liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) interests in Southern Africa. Easigas is a wholly owned subsidiary of France’s Rubis Group with operations in South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana. Reatile Gaz, which has LPG operations in South Africa and is active in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, is owned 55% by Reatile Group and 45% by Engen Petroleum. The merged operation will be owned 60% by Rubis Group and 40% by Reatile Gaz, and will offer improved efficiency by combining supply and distribution infrastructure.