Search results

Polish businessman Jan Kulczyk has sold his 8% stake in Ophir Energy as the company approaches the development stage on two big projects. Founding shareholder Kulczyk sold 56.6m shares on 28 April at 140p/share, well below the 250p price at which the stock launched in 2011. Ophir plans to develop 3.4tcf of gas on Equatorial Guinea Block R via a floating liquefied natural gas development, but says it will need to bring in a partner before a final investment decision.

US developer ContourGlobal is hoping for first gas by the end of the month at the trailblazing KivuWatt methane gas power project on Lake Kivu. The facility aims to produce up to 100MW from four units extracting methane dissolved in the deep water of Lake Kivu, reducing the risk of a potentially catastrophic release of the gas (AE 296/1). The barge-mounted gas-collecting unit for the first 25MW phase has been moored in position on the lake, and riser pipes are being connected to the separators. The pipes and separator will then be lowered under the barge and begin extracting gas, which will initially be flared until all the equipment is commissioned and gas can be piped to the onshore power plant at Kibuye.

No one doubts that gas fields in the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique and Tanzania hold huge reserves of gas. A 27 April-8 May International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission to Maputo concluded: “Mozambique’s plans to develop its oil and gas sector in the Rovuma Basin will represent one of the largest investments ever seen in Africa (up to $100bn) and could transform the country into the third largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the world.” The critical question is how quickly that gas can be brought to market, and in what direction it goes.

After announcing a “world class” gas find in May, Kosmos Energy has found more gas deeper in the Tortue discovery, which has been renamed Ahmeyim at the government’s request. In addition to the 107 metres of pay found in the primary Cenomanian target, the well intersected ten metres in the lower Albian section. Chevron has an option to take a 30% stake in Ahmeyim, which has opened a new outboard Cretaceous petroleum system offshore Mauritania and northern Senegal.

Houston-based Endeavor Energy has entered into a joint development agreement with Ivorian company Starenergie2073 to develop the 375MW Songon gas-to-power project using imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). The project will include a combined-cycle gas turbine plant, purpose-built LNG import infrastructure and a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), along the lines of Endeavor’s Ghana 1000 project.Endeavor said it would own a majority of the project equity, and provide construction management, fuel management and commercial management services. The project is expected to reach financial close in December.

New details have emerged of the Moroccan government’s ambitious project to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) and develop six combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants with combined 6.3GW capacity, whose launch has been promised by energy minister Abdelkader Amara for some months. The Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment is expected to launch tenders for legal, technical and financial consultants “in a few weeks” to support the plan’s estimated $5bn first phase, which will make natural gas a key component in the wider energy mix, delegates at the AiX:Gas conference in London heard on 28 May.

Germany’s DEA has sold part of its stake in the West Nile Delta (WND) project to operator BP to better balance its portfolio. The deal includes the sale of part of DEA’s stake in the ongoing Phase 1 development of 5tcf of gas resources. DEA retains 17.25% in the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deepwater concessions, making WND still the largest project in its portfolio. The $12bn WND project is due to start production in 2017, producing 1.2bcf/d of gas, which represents some 25% of Egypt’s current gas production.

Despite the problems plaguing Libya’s hydrocarbons sector, Eni has made its second discovery of the year in offshore Area D. The gas and condensate discovery was made in the Bouri North exploration prospect, 140km from the coast and 20km north of the producing Bouri field. The A1-1/1 well was drilled at a water depth of 125 metres and encountered gas and condensates in the Metlaoui group of Eocene age. During a production test constrained by surface facilities, the well flowed 1,340 boe/d with a 64/64 choke size.

The Maria Gléta thermal power plant has converted to natural gas from aviation fuel, significantly reducing its running costs, but is still not operating at full capacity. Originally planned to run on gas from the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), the plant, built by US company Combustion Associates, was brought into service in December 2013 and ran for seven months on jet A1 fuel. It was placed on standby in July 2014 and replaced by temporary power rented from Aggreko, which supplied 50MW, and MR International, which supplied another 30MW. The government said at the time that the aim was to reduce costs.

The 1.3GW Ain Sokhna steam turbine plant was inaugurated on 6 May with Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and electricity minister Mohamed Shaker in attendance. The total cost of the project – including transmission connection and strengthening, technical assistance and contingencies – is around $2.2bn, comprising $831.3m from the Egyptian government, $600m from the World Bank, $550m from the African Development Bank and $208.5m from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. The first 650MW from the plant began supplying the grid in December 2014.

Ophir Energy said on 5 May that it had signed a binding heads of terms for a midstream chartering and operating services agreement with London-based Golar LNG. The agreement establishes key commercial terms for Golar to build, operate and maintain a floating liquefaction and storage vessel and facilities for Ophir’s operated Fortuna floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project in Block R. The vessel to be used will be Golar’s Gimi FLNG vessel. A previous memorandum of understanding signed with Excelerate Energy on 6 November has been terminated by mutual agreement, Ophir said.

Despite Ghana’s severe power shortages, and the delays to the start of gas production from Jubilee, Kosmos Energy says lack of power generation capacity is limiting initial output. Chief executive Andy Inglis told a conference call to discuss Kosmos’ Q1 results that about 75mcf/d was being exported to the onshore processing plant at Atuabo by the end of the quarter. “The power plant downstream at Aboadze continues to be the bottleneck on additional export,” he said. “We expect the installation of additional gas-fired power generation at Aboadze in H2 will alleviate this issue.

Following on from the five-year charter of a floating storage and regasification unit from Norway-based Höegh (AE 298/19), Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) has invited bids from eight international companies to lease a second floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, to receive 42 cargoes/yr of LNG, each of 140,000m3-170,000m3. The Höegh terminal at Ain Sokhna – where the second unit will also be moored on the Gulf of Suez – is already in operation and expected to receive its third cargo in mid-May, according to Egas chairman Khaled Abdel-Badie.

Kosmos Energy has announced a “significant, play-opening gas discovery” with the Tortue-1 exploration well in offshore Block C-8. The well, drilled in 2,700 metres of water to test the Tortue West prospect which forms part of the Greater Tortue Complex, intersected 107 metres of net hydrocarbon pay. A single gas pool was encountered in the primary Lower Cenomanian objective, comprised of three high-quality reservoirs totalling 88 metres in thickness over a gross hydrocarbon bearing interval of 161 metres.

New Eskom interim CEO Brian Molefe has said that his short and medium term aims were to end load shedding and ensure efficiency and security of coal power supply, but that “in the medium to long term [our priority is] to increase alternative sources of energy, to systematically reduce our reliance on coal over a period of time”. His statement, taken with energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson’s announcement of “expanded and accelerated” independent power producer (IPP) procurement programmes, is widely viewed as signalling government recognition that Eskom will not provide new generation capacity within a timeframe or at a cost that can be justified in light of the success of the renewable energy IPP procurement (REIPPP) programme.