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It was all going so well, and could still do so, but Morocco’s hoped-for offshore boom is under pressure from the slump in crude prices, which has already altered the economics of many international oil companies (IOCs). Under the benevolent eye of Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) head Amina Benkhadra, IOCs entered the underexplored Moroccan offshore and onshore in considerable numbers in 2013-14. Many of the entrants were the majors (including BP, Chevron, Repsol and Total) and ‘super-indies’ that Onhym and political leaders in Rabat had long sought to entice into the hydrocarbons-poor kingdom, which for Moroccans includes the disputed Western Sahara.

With private equity (PE) and other funds lining up to buy into the African electricity supply industry, ownership of UK developer Globeleq Africa is passing to Norfund and UK development finance institution (DFI) CDC. The deal includes a cash payment of about $225m to current owner UK PE investor Actis Infrastructure 2 Fund. By giving CDC a 70% stake and Norfund 30%, the DFIs will take direct control of Globeleq, pending government and other third party consents.

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.

Wide-ranging reform of Angola’s power sector is making progress, but with the economy heavily dependent on oil revenues, investment plans could be significantly slowed. Angola-watchers suggest the effects on the domestic economy of sharply lower global oil prices, coupled with the continued uncertainty over veteran President José Eduardo dos Santos’ succession plans, may create a ‘perfect storm’ that could hasten the long-awaited regime change.

The Ivorian electricity supply sector has a substantial history of private sector development that is being eyed by potential entrants and existing players looking for investment opportunities in sub-Saharan generation and distribution. An eventual exit by US-headquartered private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) from Paris-based holding company Eranove (formerly Finagestion) is one potential deal that is stimulating investor interest – even though, as yet, ECP has not indicated its plans for the asset.

The government is seeking expressions of interest from consultants to review and evaluate the front-end engineering design (FEED) and field development plan for Eni’s floating liquefied natural gas development plan. The project is funded from a World Bank International Development Association credit for the Mining and Gas Technical Assistance Project. Eni launched FEED activities last May for a floating LNG vessel for the Coral South Development Project. Three consortia are competing for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning contract, and the FEED process is due for completion by end-April 2015,

Operator Eni has given the go-ahead for a project to develop the Sankofa, Sankofa East and Gye Name fields on the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) Block. Eni, Vitol and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation signed an agreement on 27 January with President John Dramani Mahama and petroleum minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah to proceed with the OCTP integrated oil and gas project. First oil is expected in 2017, first gas in 2018 and the peak production will reach 80,000 boe/d in 2019, Eni said. A preliminary agreement was announced in December after more than a year of negotiations.

Missouri American Energy (MEA), part of US-based Onwa Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government for a 250MW gas power plant in Rivers State, Onwa Group chief executive Henry Iwenofu has confirmed to African Energy. MEA will be the lead developer of the project and expects to negotiate a gas supply agreement with Shell. Iwenofu said the company was in discussions with partners to bring the project forward. Onwa Group is a management consulting firm established in 2012 with offices in St Louis, Missouri and Abuja.

Azonto Petroleum announced on 18 December that its affiliate Vioco Petroleum had received an Exclusive Exploitation Authorisation (EEA) covering the Gazelle field in Block CI-202.The award of the EEA signed by President Alassane Ouattara follows approval of the field development plan for Gazelle by state oil company Petroci in October. Vioco is now working towards project sanction, which is expected in H1 2015, with first gas anticipated some 14 to 16 months later, in H2 2016.

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.

Circle Oil has announced a gas discovery with the KSR-12 well on the Sebou permit. The well is the third in a six-well programme on the onshore Rharb Basin permit in northern Morocco, and follows two earlier discoveries. Broker Investec described it in a research note as “the best result to date”.The well found a better-than-expected 20.5 metres of net pay in the Main Hoot interval and one metre in the Upper Hoot. In testing, the Main Hoot sands flowed at a sustained rate of 8.09mcf/d over eight hours with no decrease in wellhead pressure.

Total has halted the flaring of associated gas from the Ofon field on OML 102. The gas is now being compressed, evacuated to shore and monetised via the Nigeria LNG plant on Bonny Island. The Ofon field is located 65km offshore in water depths of 40 metres. The field began production in 1997 and is currently producing about 25,000 boe/d. Ending flaring will allow for the gradual increase of production towards the 90,000 boe/d production target through monetisation of around 100mcf/d of gas, followed later in 2015 by the drilling of additional wells.

London-based Golar LNG has signed a preliminary heads of agreement with Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) and Perenco Cameroon for the development of a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project located 20km off the southern coast. The agreement is premised on the allocation of 500bcf of natural gas reserves from Perenco’s offshore Kribi fields, which will be exported to global markets via the Golar Hilli vessel, now under construction at the Keppel shipyard in Singapore. Golar will provide the liquefaction facilities and services under a tolling agreement to SNH and Perenco as owners of the upstream joint venture.

Impressive reserves announcements have fuelled speculation about an East African gas boom based on the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique and Tanzania, and projections of Asian demand and prices. However, how far Africa’s east coast will go in developing export liquefied natural gas (LNG) plans, local industries and gas-fired power generation that might have a ‘transformative’ impact on Mozambique, Tanzania and potentially the wider region remains questionable. African Energy’s analysis of current industry and policy trends suggests that Mozambique is ahead of Tanzania in a race to develop a viable export industry, as East Africa’s wannabe gas giants enter a crucial year.

There have been several false dawns, with Moroccan governments promising a major new gas import scheme to provide energy security for two decades. But recent statements by energy minister Abdelkader Amara suggest Rabat is finally committing to LNG. Amara has said the long-awaited gas law will come before parliament by June (ahead of general elections in 2016), but before then the Islamist -led government plans to open talks on contracts to supply 3-5bcm/yr. Main competitors GDF Suez and Royal Dutch Shell have dedicated senior management teams to developing a Moroccan deal over several years.