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The World Bank signed partial risk guarantee (PRG) agreements on 24 August for the ground-breaking 450MW Azura-Edo scheme, whose successful close is expected to pave the way for further independent power projects (IPPs). Financial close is expected in the next few months.“This is a very important project for us, not as a deal but as a demonstration of how the Nigerian power sector needs to go forward. If you look at it, World Bank Group exposure to Azura-Edo is pretty significant.

For the first time in many years, the hard pressed Algerian government is considering an increase in electric power tariffs – a policy certain to meet intense opposition at a politically sensitive time. At the same time, the national gas and power utility Sonelgaz intends to raise investment finance through a domestic bond and is also contemplating an internal restructuring programme. Speaking at Sonelgaz’s general meeting in Algiers on 28 September, the company’s long-standing president director-general Noureddine Bouterfa told the assembled directors, managers and employee representatives that they needed to work with the state to implement gradual prices rises that “will not bring social cohesion into question”.

Golar LNG has ordered a third floating liquefaction vessel from the Keppel shipyard in Singapore following a review of potential demand. The company said on 21 July that it had executed agreements for conversion of the 126,000 m3 liquefied natural gas carrier Gandria, which will be supplied to Ophir Energy in Equatorial Guinea in 2019, freeing up the Gimi to cover the potential emerging demand for an earlier project in 2018.

The World Bank has announced a record investment of $700m in guarantees for Eni and Vitol’s Sankofa gas project, which it says will help mobilise private investment to address Ghana’s serious energy shortage. The World Bank board on 30 July approved an International Development Association payment guarantee of $500m to support timely payments for gas purchases by Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development enclave loan guarantee of $200m that enables the project to secure financing from its private sponsors.

With revenue heavily dependent on oil receipts, the collapse in crude prices has left public sector finances in dire straits, reigniting talk of removing fuel subsidies. However, after weeks of silence, the government has deferred a decision, saying it will handle the issue with care. Buhari was quoted by spokesman Garba Shehu as saying: “When you touch the price of petroleum products, that has the effect of triggering price rises on transportation, food and rent.”

Afren has called in administrators after failing to secure support for refinancing and restructuring proposals. The company said on 31 July that talks had “failed to deliver support for a revised refinancing and restructuring proposal that would result in Afren plc being able to pay its debts as they fall due,” and it had appointed Simon Appell, Daniel Imison and Catherine Williamson of London-based AlixPartners as administrators. “The group is in discussions with its partners and other key stakeholders with a view to continuing its operating businesses,” Afren said.

Electricity generation across Nigeria reached 4GW in July, the Presidential Task Force on Power has announced. This is a step forward for Nigeria’s chronically underperforming industry, but shows that output remains way off peak demand of 14GW. Similarly, the transmission network’s capacity reached a new peak of 4.6GW as of 30 July, but this was not enough to fight off fierce criticism of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).TCN is run under management contract by Canada’s Manitoba Hydro International (MHI).

Eni on 20 July announced a gas discovery on the Nooros exploration prospect in the Abu Madi West licence in the Nile Delta. The Italian company said the Nidoco NW2 Dir NFW well was drilled to a total depth of 3,600 metres and encountered a 60-metre gas-bearing sandstone interval of Messianian age. The discovery is estimated to contain 15bcm of gas in place, with associated condensates. The new discovery will be put into production in two months’ time through a tie-in to the Abu Madi gas treatment plant, 25km to the south-east.

The government is seeking to recruit legal and transaction advisers to revive the Banda gas-to-power project, with funding from the World Bank. The project consists of the offshore Banda gas field, a 180MW power plant and a 120MW second phase extension, as well as transmission infrastructure to supply power within Mauritania and to Senegal and Mali. The government says the field’s 590bcf of proven reserves are enough to supply 60mcf/d for 20 years. Of the total 300MW to be generated, some 60% will be exported and 40% will be reserved for domestic consumption.

Azonto Petroleum has agreed to sell its 35% stake in Vioco Petroleum to joint-venture partner Vitol, which holds the other 65 percent. Faced with delays and cost increases to the planned Gazelle gas field development, Azonto said it had concluded that a sale was the best way to realise value from its stake in Block CI-202. It said selling up now saved it from committing to a work programme that it could not finance, and that it could potentially consider alternative asset acquisitions.

Ophir Energy said on 9 July that it has awarded upstream front-end engineering and design (FEED) contracts for the Fortuna floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project in Block R to two contractor consortia. The company says it is considering a second FLNG vessel on the development, while still looking to bring in a farm-in partner before its planned final investment decision (FID) in mid-2016.The upstream FEED contract, awarded to McDermott Marine Construction Ltd with GE Oil & Gas UK Ltd, and Subsea 7 with Aker Solutions, will be a competitive process, with the scope of work including subsea development design.

Despite his incapacities, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, with his Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, has spent recent weeks giving the impression of action at the top. New senior management is bedding in at national oil company Sonatrach, and military promotions on independence day, 5 July, signalled business as usual, even if there is still no movement on the retirement of key players such as military intelligence chief General Mohamed ‘Tewfik’ Mediene and chief of staff and deputy defence minister Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaïd Salah.

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) is providing a $50m loan to Cheiron Finance Limited, a subsidiary of Egypt’s Pico International Petroleum, in an effort to bolster domestic energy supplies. The loan is part of a $200m financing package arranged by IFC, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and HSBC. It will help Pico, one of Egypt’s leading independent producers, expand operations and optimise production at its oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Suez. Those fields help supply Egypt’s oil and natural gas-fired power plants, which provide the vast majority of the country’s electricity.

Rosneft has followed Gazprom by signing a large liquefied natural gas (LNG) import deal with Egypt outside the competitive tender process. Starting in Q4 2015, it will deliver 24 cargoes over two years. Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) has already contracted to purchase 35 cargoes from Gazprom over the next five years. The first LNG supply tender issued by Egas in January was for 70 cargoes for delivery to the Höegh floating terminal at Ain Sokhna. Trafigura committed to deliver 33, Vitol nine, and Noble Group seven. BP’s initial commitment of 21 cargoes was reduced to 16.

The government has passed legislation aimed at improving regulation and governance in the oil and gas sector, though the speed with which it was processed has been criticised by opposition MPs and civil society groups. The Petroleum Act was passed on 5 July, followed by the Oil & Gas Revenue Management Act and the Tanzania Extractive Industry (Transparency & Accountability) Act the following day. Opposition parties accused the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party of pushing through the legislation without giving parliament time to adequately consider its contents.