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Aggreko has doubled the capacity of its power plant in Abidjan with the addition of a second 100MW of generating capacity, bringing the total to 200MW. The Aggreko power plant in the Vridi area has been in operation since 2010, when the first 70MW was installed. This was increased by 30MW in 2011. Load shedding is presently limited to peak demand periods, but this is mostly due to transmission and distribution network constraints.

Key agreements on a potential 300MW-450MW private power project at the Mmamabula coalfield have boosted prospects for Botswana’s energy sector, writes Kevin Godier

After several dry wells, two new finds have offered confirmation of the potential of the West African Transform Margin beyond Ghana, with African Petroleum announcing Liberia’s first oil find, and success for Anadarko with the Jupiter well offshore Sierra Leone.

Energy and water resources minister Oluniyi Robbin-Coker is trying to mobilise limited resources to build generation capacity and overhaul a decrepit transmission and distribution system. With demand from the mining industry rising and access to power at just 6%, the government has set an ambitious target of installing 1GW of capacity in the next seven years. Sierra Leone has 92MW of installed capacity, including the 50MW Bumbuna dam inaugurated in November 2009, though the country has an estimated 2GW of hydro potential.

Cairn Energy has spudded the third well in its appraisal programme for the SNE field. The BEL-1 well is being drilled by the Ocean Rig Athena drillship to a total depth of 2,757 metres in water depths of 1,100 metres. Partner FAR said the well would appraise the SNE field and test the Bellatrix exploration prospect, evaluating the untested Buried Hills play. BEL-1 will be deepened to appraise the northern portion of the SNE oil field. The aim of the appraisal programme is to prove a minimum economic field size for the SNE discovery, which FAR estimates to be approximately 200m barrels of oil.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office said on 31 July that it had opened an investigation into Soma Oil & Gas in relation to allegations of corruption in Somalia. The investigation follows a report by the United Nations Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group to the Security Council which said that Soma had been making regular payments to the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources since mid-2014, some to senior civil servants who were instrumental in securing the company’s initial contract and negotiating subsequent agreements. Soma said it was confident that there was no basis to the allegations and it was co-operating fully with the SFO.

Nigeria’s South Atlantic Petroleum has given Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services a contract to acquire more than 9,000km2 of 3D seismic in the central Mozambique Channel. The Ramform Sterling vessel will acquire more than 7,000km2 in the Juan de Nova permit, a French overseas territory, and more than 2,000km2 in Madagascar’s Belo Profond licence.

A private equity fund whose biggest investor is Saudi business tycoon Prince Alwaleed is raising money to invest a total of $500m in Africa across a range of sectors, writes Nadine Marroushi. Sectors including energy and mining, financial services, retail, manufacturing and telecoms will be targeted by the new Pan-African Investment Partners II private equity fund,

The governments of Mauritania and Senegal are seeking expressions of interest for the construction of a 225kV transmission line between Nouakchott and Tobène, upgrading the connection between the two countries’ power grids. There are plans for Mauritania to export 125MW to Senegal from 2017. The line will be capable of carrying up to 250MW, to allow for future expansion. According to the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Senelec charges the highest tariffs in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, and relies on significant government subsidies, of E180m ($240m) in 2012 and E120m in 2013.

Initial responses to the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21)’s 12 December Paris Agreement ranged from the euphoric, declaring a historic deal that could save the world, to the grimly pragmatic. Most participants declared the 13 days of negotiations and months of work that preceded them a success for France and the 197 governments that signed the 12-page pact to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. Running parallel to the global deal, COP21 put Africa at the forefront of an international negotiation, reflecting the continent’s perceived role as essential new driver of global growth and burgeoning flows of financing for renewable energy, improved access and efficiency from commitments confirmed in Paris.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has said France is prepared to help Egypt develop civil nuclear power. “Egypt has considerable energy needs and it naturally envisages building nuclear reactors,” Sarkozy told Al-Ahram in a pre-visit interview.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has launched a NZ$150m benchmark bond due on 7 March 2029. The bond launched on 21 February and carries a semi-annual coupon of 2.85%, priced at 70 basis points over the New Zealand government bond due on 20 April 2029.

ALGERIA: Sonatrach finds, CAMEROON: New onshore licence for Bowleven, COTE D’IVOIRE: Tullow, Kufpec join Edison block, GHANA: Songa Saturn for Kosmos, MAURITANIA: Sonatrach farms into Total acreage

Gazprom has moved a step closer to taking a share of strategic upstream assets in Libya from Italy’s Eni, potentially adding another facet to Moscow’s energy influence in North Africa. The Russian giant is also believed to be talking about possible deals with Algeria’s Sonatrach and has offered to invest in Nigeria

A new partnership agreement between Eni and Sonatrach has extended the Italian company’s original oil and gas licence – the first ever signed between Sonatrach and an international oil company (IOC) – while preserving the terms agreed under the 1986 oil and gas law. However, there is no guarantee that other IOCs will be able to use the deal as a benchmark in their own negotiations – apart from anything else, not even the broad outlines of the agreement have been made public.