Tanzania celebrates key milestone at 2 GW Julius Nyerere hydropower plant


Earlier today, Tanzania celebrated the readiness of the Julius Nyerere’s main dam for its first phase of reservoir impounding. The project’s water storage basin reached a depth of 95m in its mid-section, allowing for the start of water filling.

The project has been under construction since 2019, with the engineering, procurement and construction executed by the Egyptian consortium of Elsewedy Electric and The Arab Contractors.

The facility involves a 134m RCC gravity dam and appurtenant structures, with expected reservoir length of 100km, covering an area of about 1,350km2.

Upon completion, the 2,115 MW project will be one of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest hydroelectric facility. It is expected to be able to generate up to 6,307 GWh a year.

Full details on the Julis Nyerere Hydropower Plant (Rufiji) are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

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BW Energy starts production from Tortue Phase 2 offshore Gabon

BW Energy has announced that the hook-up of the DTM-6H and DTM-7H production wells at its Dussafu Marin Permit offshore Gabon has been completed and handover to production operations made. DTM-7H (Gamba formation) was brought online yesterday, while DTM-6H (Dentale formation) is expected online in the coming days. Both wells form part of the four additional production wells drilled as part of the Tortue Phase 2 project and tied-back to the FPSO BW Adolo. Out of these four wells, DTMH-4 and DTMH-5 had already been brought on stream in early 2020 and are producing. However, DTMH-6 and DTMH-7 formed part of a second cluster initially scheduled for completion in June 2020 but delayed because of the Covid19 pandemic. Drilling resumed only in April 2021 while gross projected investment forecast for Tortue Phase 2 had to be cut from $275m to $238m. “The Tortue Phase 2 development was completed below budget and within the revised timeframe. We look forward to the production growth following first oil from the two wells. Operationally we will now focus on stabilisation of the production and wrapping up the project activities.” Carl K. Arnet, the CEO of BW Energy Gross production averaged about 9,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in Q3 2021 and currently stands at 11,500 bopd. Source: BW Energy In parallel to the completion of Tortue Phase 2, BW Energy is preparing to execute a third development phase with the Ruche Phase 1 project. It targets the Hibiscus and Ruche Fields located 20km northwest of the Tortue Field via the drilling of up to six horizontal production wells connected to a fixed wellhead platform, itself tied back to the existing BW Adolo FPSO. The drilling is expected to be split into four wells in the Hibiscus Field and two wells in the Ruche Field, all targeting the Gamba reservoir. Full details on the development of the Dussafu Marin PSC are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

Gabon on the move: what you need to know ahead of the Gabon Oil, Gas & Energy Summit in Libreville this week

Nested in the Gulf of Guinea, Gabon has built itself a reputation of environmental stewardship and sustainable development of its natural resources. The country of less than 2.5m notably hosts Africa’s largest forest elephant population and is covered at 88% by rainforest. Despite being an established offshore hydrocarbons province, Gabon is steadily diversifying away from oil. A public-private partnership with ARISE IIP resulted in the establishment of one of Africa’s most modern and efficient free zones now serving a growing industrial and mining base. The country is in fact one of the world’s top producers of manganese, of which it exported almost 4m tonnes in the first half of the year. Gabon has also successfully industrialised its wood industry to become a recognised exporter of timber: between January and June 2021, the country produced over 1 million m3 of logs.  Gabon’s economy remains fairly diversified compared to that of its African neighbours. Its oil & gas sector’s contribution to the GDP stood at 37.7% in 2020 and represented 33% of government revenues last year. Oil exports also accounted for 70% of total export revenues. Maintaining the pace of investment in the country’s hydrocarbons value-chain remains a priority for the government, especially as it seeks to develop gas-based economies and use oil revenues to invest in sustainable infrastructure and the conservation of its environment. A Focus on Reversing Production Decline Gabon is member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and produced an average of 183,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) between January and September 2021. This makes it sub-Saharan Africa’s fourth largest producer, behind Nigeria, Angola and Congo-Brazzaville and more or less at par with Ghana. Production has been in decline for several years and has stagnated in the recent past. Gabon launched its 12th Licensing Bid Round before Covid19, which it is just concluding now. The round generated relatively strong interest given market dynamics, and award letters started being issued this month with BW Energy provisionally securing two blocks along with partners Panoro Energy and VAALCO Energy. Source: DGEPF The award of new exploration acreage is much needed in order to encourage seismic acquisition and exploratory drilling and ultimately maintain production in the medium-term. Exploration has so far been a miss this year, with BW Energy’s Hibiscus Extension appraisal well (DHIBM-2) encountering water in the first half of the year, and its Hibiscus North exploration well (DHBNM-1) failing to deliver on pre-drill resource estimate in July. An Independents’ Market Gabon is an independents and national oil companies (NOCs)’ game. Shell Gabon sold all its assets in the country to Assala Energy in November 2017, and Total Gabon sold seven of its non-operated mature fields and operatorship of the Cap Lopez Oil Terminal to Perenco in July 2020. Beyond Assala Energy and Perenco, Gabon’s upstream sector is dominated by Maurel & Prom, VAALCO Energy and BW Energy along with a few NOCs such as Petronas. TotalEnergies remains the only IOC still operating upstream assets in the country. Gabon continues to offer significant opportunities for independents, both onshore and offshore. In February 2021, Panoro Energy acquired Tullow Oil’s 10% working interest in BW Energy’s Dussafu Marin Permit.  A New Strategy to Monetise Domestic Gas Gabon has been working for a few years on a new strategy to monetise gas to generate additional electricity and develop new gas-based industries. The move benefits from significant political will and support and is one of the key pillars of the country’s new three-year plan over the 2021-2023 period, dubbed Plan to Accelerate the Transformation (PAT). Because Perenco represents most of the country’s operated gas production, it will play a major role in the development of Gabon’s domestic gas market. The company completed this year studies and plans for the new 10,000 metric tonnes Batanga LPG plant, where construction is expected to start before the end of the year.  In July 2019, Gabon’s Ministry of Petroleum, Gas and Mines had also signed an agreement giving the Olowi Field to Perenco as its new operator. The field was developed between 2005 and 2018 by Canadian Natural Resources and is now to be redeveloped under an integrated gas project. Source: DGEPF Finally, an expanding gas industry will benefit the power sector. Gabon already runs several gas-to-power facilities and in September 2021, the Gabon Power Company (GPC) signed a landmark Concession Agreement with Wärtsilä for the development, supply, construction, operation, and maintenance of a new 120 MW gas-to-power project in Owendo, next to the capital city of Libreville. A Diversifying Energy Basket Beyond gas, Gabon is also expanding its energy sector with the development of its solar and water resources. Several hydropower plants are currently being developed, When it comes to hydroelectricity, Meridiam and the Gabon Power Company successfully reached financial close on the 35 MW Kinguélé Aval in July this year. Additional facilities include the 15 MW Dibwangui hydropower plant and the 73 MW Ngoulmendjim hydropower plants, whose power purchase agreements (PPA) were signed with Eranove in 2018. Solar energy is also making its entry into the country’s grid with the signing last August of a contract with the Turkish group Desiba Energy for the construction of a 20 MW solar power plant in Doubou, in the province of Ngounié. To find out about investment and business opportunities in Gabon, register for IN-VR’s Gabon Oil, Gas & Energy Summit hybrid conference taking place in Libreville and online between October 20th-22nd. More information at https://www.in-vr.co/gabon. All details on ongoing and future projects across Gabon’s energy sector are available within your Hawilti+ research terminal.