Energy

VAALCO Energy has announced that it has completed the feasibility study for the development of the Venus discovery offshore Equatorial Guinea’s mainland. The discovery was made back in 2005 and is located within Block P, where VAALCO farmed in in 2012. The block’s estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) is of over 20 million barrels of oil […]

The 100 MW Kipeto wind farm has officially achieved commercial operations date as of Monday, July 5th. Majority-owned by Actis (88%) via BTE Renewables, Kipeto Energy is Kenya’s second largest wind energy facility after the Lake Turkana one. Kipeto Energy was originally conceived by Kenyan company Craftskills Wind Energy International (CWEIL) with support from General […]

PanAfrican Energy Tanzania, the subsidiary of the Orca Energy Group that operates the wells and gas processing plant at Songo Songo in Tanzania, has signed an agreement with Exalo Drilling for the workover of three onshore wells. Activities are set to start in September 2021 on Songo Songo Island. The 2021 workover programme will notably […]

Earlier this year, Sahara Tanzania announced the expansion of its petroleum products storage capacity in the country to 72 million liters. Nigerian energy and power conglomerate Sahara Group has been present in Tanzania since 2015, starting with 10 loading arms and four storage tanks with a combined storage capacity of 36m litres. It has now […]

Since TotalEnergies announced its acquisition of TullowOil’s shares in the Tilenga oil project and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Uganda has crystalized a lot of the global tensions around the debate of development vs. environment. By developing the 1.7 billion barrels of contingent oil resources discovered around the Lake Albert, TotalEnergies is expected […]

ARA Petroleum Tanzania (APT), which took over the operatorship of the onshore Ruvuma PSA in Tanzania last year, has received a two-year extension of the license. The granting of the extension was necessary to complete key exploration activities on the block, including the acquisition of 200 km2 of 3D seismic data and the drilling of […]

While Africa constitutes 17% of the world’s population, it only accounts for 6% of global primary energy consumption, according to 2018 data from the International Energy Agency (IEA). However, the continent is recording an ever-greater demand for energy, to support continued growth for more than two decades, interrupted only by the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, […]

South Africa has been home to some of the world’s largest discoveries in recent years, with TotalEnergies opening up a new hydrocarbon’s province in the Outeniqua Basin via its Brulpadda (2019) and Luiperd (2020) discoveries. But as TotalEnergies and its partner work towards the set-up of an early production system on these discoveries, attention has […]

On September 9, the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) officially launched the $550 million MCC–Senegal Power Compact in Dakar. The five-year partnership had been signed since 2018 and will be completed by an additional $50 million commitment from the Government of Senegal. Investments will be made specifically in the strengthening of electricity networks in […]

Private Nigerian trading house Beluga Energy has signed a binding Heads of Agreement with Tower Resources Cameroon last month to acquire a 49% non-operating working interest in the Thali production sharing contract (PSC) offshore Cameroon. As operator, Tower Resources had been looking for a partner for some time in order to drill the NJOM-3 well. […]

It took almost two decades, two historic crashes in commodity prices and two recessions for Nigeria to finally adopt its new Petroleum Industry Bill. Following its passing at both chambers of Parliament in July, the bill was officially signed into law by President Buhari today. The bill is expected to provide much-needed regulatory certainty for […]

With a compound annual growth rate of 27% between 2018 and 2020, Nigeria’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply is amongst the fastest growing in Africa. Last year, the country absorbed its first million metric tonnes of LPG, up from 840,000 MT in 2019 and 635,650 MT in 2018. And the forecast for further growth is […]

In early August, Siemens Gamesa completed the installation of Djibouti’s first wind turbine at the Goubet wind farm in Djibouti. The 59 MW facility has been under construction since October 2020 and will be Djibouti’s first utility-scale wind project and the country’s first independent power producer (IPP). It is the result of a strong involvement […]

Heirs Holdings and its affiliates Transcorp announced at the start of this year a transformative acquisition of a 45% participating interest in OML 17 from the Shell Petroleum Development Co. (SPDC) joint-venture. The transaction remains one of the largest oil & gas financings in Africa with a financing component of $1.1bn. Seven months later, new […]

Italian major Eni has announced this month a major light oil discovery (40° API) at its Baleine-1X exploration well in block CI-101 offshore Côte d’Ivoire. The company had signed the contract for the block’s license back in March 2017 and operates it with a 90% interest. This marks the third oil discovery by the company […]

In more ways than one, the concept of energy transition makes no sense for African countries. The energy transition model by which fossil fuels were going to be replaced with renewable energy emerged out of developed countries, where low population growth and few incremental energy needs have paved the way for new planning strategies to […]

By and large, 2021 has been a missed opportunity for African oil producers. While the continent’s hydrocarbons sector yielded several discoveries and Nigeria finally signed its landmark Petroleum Industry Bill into law, decreasing output across the board means that African producers have not maximised benefits from the strong rebound in commodity prices. This is particularly […]

Djibouti has no natural resources, a land area of only 23,200 km2 and a population of 1m. Yet, the country has attracted billions of dollars of investments over the past decade, making some of Africa’s biggest economies look up to it with envy. Foreign investors from China, the Middle East and the United States are […]

Angolan junior Sociedade Petrolífera Angolana (SOMOIL) has contracted the FALCON 1000HP drilling rig for drilling activities at the FS and FST license onshore Angola. Operations will last about three years and will mostly focus on workover and wells repair along with the re-entry of existing wells and the drilling and completion of new wells. In […]

Following its investment in Burkina Faso’s leading LPG distributor Sodigaz APC in 2017, Amethis has just sold its 22% stake in the company to African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). Over the years, Sodigaz has built a 60% market share of Burkina Faso’s LPG distribution market and currently relies on a network of 2,200 gas resellers. […]

Maersk Supply Service has just been awarded a contract by the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO) for Phase 2 of the mooring system maintenance project on the Kome-Kribi 1 FSO (Kome-Kribi 1 Marine Terminal) offshore Douala. The marine terminal forms the last part of the 1,070km Chad-Cameroon Oil Export Pipeline that evacuates Chad’s oil to […]

BOURBON has announced that it has been selected by Shell to provide fully integrated logistics solutions to support its upcoming deepwater offshore exploration campaigns in Namibia and Sao Tomé. Last month, Shell had selected the Valaris DS-10 drillship to drill in PEL 39 offshore Namibia and Block 6 in Sao Tomé. BOURBON’s package contract includes […]