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Over the weekend, Nigerian energy and infrastructure conglomerate Sahara Group has announced new strategic appointments to support its expansion across Africa and the rest of the world. The appointments all took effect on March 1st, 2022. The head of the group’s downstream business in Nigeria, Foluso Sobanjo, was notably bumped to Head of Sahara’s downstream operations across Africa. Sahara has been increasingly expanding its investments and presence across key growing markets on the continent and currently runs operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Guinea, Cameroun, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Last year, the group notably announced the expansion of its petroleum products storage capacity in Tanzania to 72m litres. Equally important, Sahara has reinforced its sustainability governance by promoting its Director of Governance and Sustainability, Pearl Uzokwe, as Director of the Sahara Foundation. Pearl Uzokwe had previously championed Sahara’s energy transition efforts and led the group’s sustainability reporting over the past few years. Finally, and in replacement of Pearl Uzokwe, Sahara has appointed Ejiro Gray as its new Director of Governance and Sustainability.
New Fortress Energy has executed a a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with Eni Congo for the deployment of its Fast LNG liquefaction technology off the coast of the Republic of the Congo for a period of 20 years. Under the agreement, NFE will deploy its innovative “Fast LNG” facility to produce up to 1.4 million metric tons per year of LNG from the associated gas fields of Nene Marine on Block Marine XII. The development of a floating LNG project has been on the table for several years in Congo and is finally gaining traction. A few weeks ago, Eni announced it was seeking to develop the project in two phases with two modular and flexible liquefaction plants. Phase 1 is expected to rely on a near-shore concept while Phase 2 would rely on an offshore concept. The production from Phase 1 is expected to start in Q2 of 2023. The project would both target zero gas flaring but also seek to valorise gas for the domestic power and industrial sectors and for the export market. Last December, NFE had also executed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for the development of the offshore Banda gas reserves into a new energy hub. Under the MoU signed with the Ministry of Petroleum, Mines and Energy, New Fortress Energy would also deploy its Fast LNG liquefaction technology to produce LNG for Mauritania’s domestic gas and power markets and for exports.
