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TotalEnergies is expected to start its much-anticipated infill drilling campaign offshore Nigeria in February 2023, its partner Africa Oil Corp. has said. The major has been planning a new drilling campaign on its flagship deepwater block OML 130 for some time, with an initial start scheduled for Q3 2022. The campaign will focus on infill drilling and could target up to 9 wells, including 2 exploration/appraisal ones. Exploratory drilling could notably focus on the Egina Ridge and Egina South prospects. “The rig contracted to drill the Egina infill wells is expected to commence operations in February 2023, after obtaining its final regulatory approval,” Africa Oil Corp. said in a production and operational update released today. The company is a 50% shareholder in Prime Oil & Gas, which itself holds a 16% interest in OML 130. While the rig selected is yet to be announced, Hawilti’s Offshore Drilling Tracker shows that Noble Corp.’s Gerry de Souza drillship is a likely candidate. The rig completed a drilling campaign for TotalEnergies offshore Suriname in December 2022 and arrived in West Africa at the end of last year, data from Marine Traffic shows.
AMEA Power, a Dubai-based developer, owner and operator of green energy projects, has developed a strong appetite for Africa over recent years. The company already built West Africa’s biggest solar plant, a 50 MW PV facility in Blitta, Togo. Its commissioned and under-construction solar projects total some 130 MW, spread between Morocco, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Uganda. The company has now embarked on a significant scaling up of its renewable energy capacity on the continent via new solar, wind, and hydrogen projects. Its has a pipeline of over 1 GW of solar PV projects in various stages of development in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Mali, Chad, Gabon, Angola, and Djibouti. In November 2022, it also signed an MoU for a new 50 MW facility in Malawi, and announced in January 2023 the signing of a concession agreement and 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for a new 50 MW solar PV project in Côte d’Ivoire. Its African portfolio is also on the verge of diversification, with wind projects of some 950 MW in total being developed in Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Last but not least, AMEA Power intends to leverage on Africa’s significant renewable energy potential to produce green hydrogen. It has currently selected Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Angola for up to 3.5 GW of green hydrogen projects that could be approved over the coming years.
