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Following its success at drawing in cheap financing and qualified bidders for the 160MW first phase of the 500MW Ouarzazate independent power project (IPP), Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) has issued prequalification bids to install another 300MW at the southern site.

Tunisia and Morocco look to gas for increased capacity

The new Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) group managing director is a low-profile Harvard and Oxford-educated engineer from the central Kogi state, who joined NNPC in 1977 and became Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company’s head of planning in 1987. Oniwon then served as technical assistant to the downstream department’s group executive director (1988-91), before serving as head of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company’s Engineering and Technical Services Department (ETSD) in 1991-92. Following this, Oniwon was appointed head of NNPC’s New Business Development, Corporate Planning and Development Division, until moving to become head of ETSD at Port Harcourt Refinery (1993-99).

The European Commission-funded Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI) has committed $3.5m of development capital to finance 50% of the external development expenses needed for the 143MW Bumbuna II hydroelectric power project to reach financial close.

Africa Oil Corporation announced on 10 April that it had bought another 4.75m shares in Guyana-focused Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas Ltd, bringing its stake to about 18.8%. Africa Oil, which also owns 35% of Africa Energy Corporation, acquired the shares on a non-brokered private placement basis.

Eskom awarded a R2.9bn ($313m) contract to a local joint venture for the main civil works package at the new Kusile Power Station in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga Province. The order was awarded to Kusile Civil Works Joint Venture, comprising Basil Read (Pty) Ltd, Group Five Construction (Pty) Ltd, Stefanutti Stocks Civils (Pty) Ltd and WBHO Construction (Pty) Ltd.

Seadrill Partners has secured a one-well contract with Petronas subsidiary PC Gabon Upstream SA for the West Polaris to work offshore Gabon. Work is expected to start in September 2019, running to the end of the year.Petronas operates the Likuale (F14) Block offshore southern Gabon, where the Boudji-1 well drilled in Q4 2018 intersected a 90-metre oil and gas column in water depths of 2,800 metres.

The International Finance Corporation’s Scaling Solar initiative was officially launched in Senegal on 10 February with the signing of an agreement to develop 200MW solar capacity. Scaling Solar is intended to offer a one-stop shop for advisers, project documents, risk management, finance and insurance for smaller countries looking to speed up implementation of solar PV programmes. The programme is already under way in Zambia.

Operator Cairn Energy has spudded the Fan South-1 well on the Sangomar Deep licence, described by partner Far as the first pure exploration well since the Fan-1 and SNE-1 discoveries in 2014. The well is being drilled into the South Fan prospect targeting 134m barrels of recoverable oil in several stacked reservoir targets within tieback range to the planned SNE development in the event of success.Appraisal is now complete on the SNE field, where the partners are aiming for first oil in 2021.

The takeover of UK developer Globeleq Africa by Norfund and UK development finance institution CDC arguably takes DFI investment in African electricity full circle. Over a decade ago, CDC was a significant direct investor, in October 2001 buying 20% of Tanzanian independent power producer Songas. Stakes in Songas and Kenya’s Tsavo Power Company were the core assets when CDC founded Globeleq as an autonomous developer in 2002. Under a strategy announced in September 2012, CDC has been looking to become a more dynamic (rather than passive fund-of-funds) investor.

Four companies and groups have prequalified to bid for the construction of a 10MW solar photovoltaic power plant at Tozeur. Those selected by Société Tunisienne d’Electricité et du Gaz from tender no. 2015 E 4010 are Italy’s TerniEnergia, Spain’s Grupo TSK (which led a group that built Morocco’s Noor I solar plant at Ouarzazate), a Chinese grouping of Sinohydro Corporation and Zhongnan Engineering, and Italy’s Conergy Italia. The project is funded by German development bank KfW and the European Union’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility.

Zambia finds itself in the unusual position of having surplus power supply as a result of increased generation from upgrades to its power plants and the economic crisis which has seen the country’s copper miners slash their production.

Genel Energy has announced that it has agreed to acquire a 40% interest in the Adigala Block in north-east Ethiopia from New Age (African Global Energy) Limited. Genel will pay a share of back costs and of a 2D seismic survey planned by year-end. New Age reprocessed 520km of existing 2D seismic in 2012 and carried out a full tensor gravity survey.

Dakar port has opened a new container terminal, described by Dubai-based developer DP World as West Africa’s largest and most modern. Following a concession agreement signed in 2007,

European Union sanctions on outgoing president Laurent Gbagbo have hit crude supplies to Abidjan’s 80,000 b/d Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage oil refinery, which is working at a “minimum” level, according to a spokesman. On 28 February, the government banned the filling of jerrycans at petrol stations, in a bid to prevent fuel hoarding.