Ghana: Gov’t To Approve Vendor For NPG’s Nuclear Power Project
Ghana’s quest to become a nuclear power operator in 2030 has reached an advanced state as the country is expected to announce the preferred nuclear vendor country and technology for its nuclear power project by the end of 2022.
Given this, the West African nation’s Ministry of Energy has prepared a memo for the Cabinet to consider the appropriate technology for the country’s nuclear power project.
Speaking at the opening of a three-day workshop for selected media practitioners in Accra on the theme: ‘Nuclear Safety, A Public Fear and Concern’, the Executive Director of Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), Dr. Stephen Yamoah, said his outfit has submitted a Report to the Energy Ministry and was hopeful the Ministry would submit a Memo to Cabinet as soon as possible for consideration and decision on the technology Ghana wants to adopt.
He said the country is on course as far as its nuclear power programme is concerned.
Dr. Yamoah said Ghana is at the 2nd Phase of the Nuclear Power Programme as per the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
According to him, NPG has completed the ranking assessment of the four candidate sites it selected and would, in due course, settle on the preferred site based on seismicity and environmental condition of the location.
He, however, did not disclose which region the site is situated in but said due to the large volume of water required for the cooling of the plant activities, areas along the coast of the country are most preferred.
The Deputy Minister for Energy in charge of Power, Hon. William Owuraku Aidoo, said the Ministry of Energy has prepared a Memo on the Ghana Nuclear Power project and would, in the next couple of days, submit it to Cabinet.
He said the government is committed to executing the project “because it offers cheaper electricity and guarantees energy security for the country.
“Recently steps are being taken to finalise the selection of a preferred site to Ghana’s first nuclear power plant. Recently, Ghana issued a Request of Information (RFI) as part of the required processes to identify a vendor country and nuclear technology.”
“Currently, the RFI report is under review and government will soon announce a decision on vendor and technology”, Hon. Owuraku Aidoo said.
Dr. George Tettey, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Bui Power Authority (BPA) in charge of Finance, who represented the CEO, said the Authority supports the nuclear power project.
The Director for Renewable Energy at Bui Power said Ghana needs reliable cheap power to industrialise.
He said the Government’s flagship industrialisation programme ‘1D1F’ can only strive “if we have cheap power.”
He, therefore, said Ghana’s nuclear power programme is in the right direction.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana: Accra High Court Orders Gov’t To Halt Payments To ENI, Vitol For Sankofa Gas
An Accra High Court in the Republic of Ghana has ordered the government of the West African nation to stop monthly payments to Eni Exploration and Production Ghana Limited and its Partner, Vitol Upstream Ghana Limited for gas supplied to the state from the Sankofa Oil Field.
According to a report filed by myjoyonline.com, the High Court (Commercial Division) at its sitting on Friday, granted a motion for an interlocutory injunction restraining the Government of Ghana from making further payments to the Italian oil giant and its partners.
“The order, issued on Friday, July 12, 2022, specifically restrained the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Ministries of Energy and Finance as third parties, from making any payments, whether outstanding or recurrent to the two oil companies pending the determination of an application brought against the three state organs by Springfield Exploration and Production Limited, a wholly-owned Ghanaian Energy company,” the report said.
The court order follows a motion filed by the Ghanaian upstream player, Springfield E&P, on 20th June 2022 seeking the order by the court for GNPC, Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Finance to make all payments to the Registrar of the Court.
The action by the Ghanaian energy company is believed to be a sequel to an ongoing legal tussle that has seen Springfield win a judgment to preserve part of the proceeds from operations in the Sankofa Fields.
The court also ordered GNPC and the two ministries to file accounts of all payments they have made to Eni and Vitol since the day of service on them of the pending application for an order of payment of money due and owing to the defendants. This is to be carried out within 21 days beginning from 15th July 2022 and filed with the Court’s Registrar.
The court noted that the reliefs sought by Springfield were both prohibitive and mandatory injunctions, having demonstrated that it had a ruling for preservation in its favour which had not been stayed for purposes of execution. There is, therefore, a subsisting court order that it has the right to enforce and or protect through the process of law.
The trial Judge further noted that the Applicant (Springfield) had sufficiently demonstrated to the satisfaction of the court that there was a legal right worthy of the court’s protection.
“The application is, therefore, neither frivolous nor vexatious as there are serious questions that ought to be determined in the pending application,” it added.
In the opinion of the Court, Springfield had demonstrated that despite the order of interim preservation that was obtained against Eni and Vitol, they had, through the filing of various applications in various courts, frustrated the compliance and execution of the order of interim preservation.
“As if that is not enough, the resources which are alleged to be jointly owned by the Applicant and the Respondents are being dissipated by the Respondents on the blind side of the Applicant. The Respondents are further receiving payments monthly from third parties without accounting for same to the Applicant nor the court,” it further noted.
The government, in 2020, declared the Sankofa Field and Afina Well unitized through the Ministry of Energy and directed ENI and Springfield to commence the exchange of data with the view to unitizing the two areas to ensure optimization of the resource.
Since the directive, the two companies have failed to agree on the way forward. Whereas Eni rejects the idea saying it was a rushed decision, Springfield has been in court for the law to be enforced to the letter in line with the Petroleum laws of the country.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Gambia: PURA Hosts Fiber Cuts Forum To Strategies Progress
The Gambia Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) with its stakeholders in the telecoms industry last Thursday held a day-long forum on frequent fiber cuts on the theme: improving the communication resilience of our ICT infrastructures.
The purpose of the workshop was for stakeholders to discuss and understand the root causes of the persistent fiber cuts in the telecom industry in The Gambia.
The Director General of PURA, Mr. Yusupha M. Jobe, disclosed that the workshop seeks to investigate and ascertain the root cause of frequent fiber cuts and suggest recommendations for optimization to curb this unfortunate situation.
It was also to establish the gravity of the impact when there is a single fiber cut, double fiber cut, and/or triple fiber cut. The causes of the fiber cut along the various corridors of the regions, to understand whether the occurrence was deliberate or accidental. Solicit the support of these key stakeholders in assisting to protect the existing or already deployed fiber infrastructure.
Mr. Jobe believes that the workshop with its outcome discussions, when implemented, will improve the general network and quality of service delivery of the various network operators in the country which are attributed to frequent fiber cuts as well as reduce their cost of operations, improve quality of service hence enhances customer satisfaction.
He said in the present day it is almost mandatory to be always connected to the ICT services. That includes your phone, internet, TVs, ATMs, Banks, Forex Bureaus, and other devices as they all connect to the internet, the World Wide Web.
According to Mr Jobe, when fiber-optic cables are cut or damage occurs, data and/or voice outrages take place. He states that this translates into losing internet connection, data storage, and even cell phone-based voice connection in certain areas or multiple areas.
He argues that: “Fiber-optic outages isolate people by slowing telecommunication and work-related activities nowadays amongst others. Having access to communication services can save a life in some emergencies.”
He informs that, recently there have been persistent fiber cuts by various activities, posing many challenges to the players in the industry and causing hardship in meeting the network quality expectation of their customers. He also discloses that a lot of fiber cut incidences increase the operational expenditure, declining revenue margins of the telecommunications /ICT service providers, and above all reduce the robustness of the fiber cable.
He announced that GAMTEL through the support of The Gambia government and the African Development Bank deployed a national fiber cable backbone infrastructure as part of the ECOWAS Wide Area Network project (ECOWAN). This, he further adds, over 1,000 kilometers of optical fiber network infrastructures were deployed across the length and breadth of the county in a bid to deliver high-standard quality networks that will satisfy and delight the needs of ICT customers countrywide.
The ICT sector, he states has been faced with several challenges both in the deployment and maintenance of the fiber cable infrastructure. He enumerates that, persistent fiber cuts have been the most significant challenging issue to deal with by the telecom companies in the industry in The Gambia today.
“The fiber cut is having a tremendous negative effect on quality-of-service delivery and customer experience. Besides these, other mandatory key performance indicators relative to industry standards such as availability, reliability, call set-up success rate, call congestion rate, call drop rate, as well as subscriber connectivity for both voice and data, are significantly impacted due to frequent fiber cut phenomenon,” he states.
Amie Njie-Joof, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy reveals that the event is timely considering the ongoing review of the IC Act 2009, which intends to strengthen laws dealing with fiber cuts that are quite critical to ICT infrastructure.
She commended PURA for the successful hosting of the event, saying that it demonstrates PURA’s commitment to effectively regulating the ICT sector.
She discloses that: “The Government of the Gambia has spent significant resources on the national fiber infrastructure. Therefore, its upkeep and effective utilization should be everyone’s concern.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana, Niger Deepen Petroleum Trade Relations
Ghana’s petroleum downstream regulator, NPA, has met with Niger’s Ministry of Petroleum to discuss economic cooperation between the two West African nations.
Over the weekend, the Deputy Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Curtis Perry Okudzeto, led a delegation to pay a working visit to the Ministry of Petroleum of Niger.
The visit was part of the NPA’s vision to deepen the economic relationship between Ghana and Niger in the light of a growing trend in the export of gasoil and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATK) from Ghana to Niger.
Currently, apart from the continuous increase in the supply of Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel (USLD) to Niger, ATK export from Ghana to Niger, which commenced in April this year, has seen an increase from a monthly average of 800,000 litres to about 1,500,000 litres as at June.
Mr. Okudzeto reiterated the need to facilitate a more robust relationship between the two countries, saying, “For us at NPA, our role as a regulator requires that we appreciate the dynamics of the industry and provide the necessary regulatory support for the growth of the industry.”
He added: “The growth, at this point, requires that we, as regulators from both sides, come together to streamline existing protocols to facilitate the export trade between the two countries and collaborate more to facilitate data sharing.”
Mr. Okudzeto expressed the NPA’s interest in discussing more business opportunities that could be exploited by players in both countries.
The discussion also centred around both countries sharing their experiences of how the impact of the global crisis is being managed in the petroleum sector, especially concerning fuel pricing and availability.
At the top of the agenda for the NPA delegation was how to map out strategies to enhance efficiency in export trade while instituting measures to combat the illegal malpractices in the trade.
In his subsequent interactions with the Management of the State Oil Company, Société Nigérienne des Produits Pétroliers (SONIDEP) and state refinery, Société De Raffinage De Zinder (SORAZ), Mr Okudzeto extended a special invitation to the institutions for a visit to Ghana to understudy some of the strategies the NPA had instituted which have contributed to making the NPA remain a dynamic and robust regulator.
He further noted that Ghana stood to benefit in sharing its experience and in partnering with the institutions to streamline their processes as it would ensure an efficient and reliable end-to-end monitoring regime between both countries.
The delegation also paid a courtesy call on Ghana’s Ambassador to Niger, H.E. Jonathan Magnussen.
The visit was to facilitate a working relationship with the Ghanaian officials at the Embassy through whom the NPA intends to continue to engage the Nigerienne Authorities even after the visit.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
At the top of the agenda for the NPA delegation was how to map out strategies to enhance efficiency in export trade while instituting measures to combat the illegal malpractices in the trade.
In his subsequent interactions with the Management of the State Oil Company, Société Nigérienne des Produits Pétroliers (SONIDEP) and state refinery, Société De Raffinage De Zinder (SORAZ), Mr Okudzeto extended a special invitation to the institutions for a visit to Ghana to understudy some of the strategies the NPA had instituted which have contributed to making the NPA remain a dynamic and robust regulator.
He further noted that Ghana stood to benefit in sharing its experience and in partnering with the institutions to streamline their processes as it would ensure an efficient and reliable end-to-end monitoring regime between both countries.
The delegation also paid a courtesy call on Ghana’s Ambassador to Niger, H.E. Jonathan Magnussen.
The visit was to facilitate a working relationship with the Ghanaian officials at the Embassy through whom the NPA intends to continue to engage the Nigerienne Authorities even after the visit.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com Libya: El Feel Oil Field Resumes Production
Libya’s El Feel oilfield resumed production on Tuesday, according to Libya’s National Oil Corporation, after being shut down for nearly three months.
The initial capacity for El Feel is 40,000 barrels per day, according to NOC.
The 40,000 bpd rate has already been achieved today. When all the wells have been placed back into production, El Feel should return to its normal rate of 70,000 bpd. The El Feel field is operated in partnership with Italy’s Eni.
The El Feel oilfield was closed in mid-April as protests against Libya’s Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah made it impossible to continue. Production from El Feel was disrupted in March after a “gang” led by Mohammed al-Bashir closed some valves, according to Argus. El Feel was also shut in for nearly a month starting in mid-December last year by the Petroleum Facilities Guard.
The return of a portion of Libya’s oil production comes at a critical time for the oil markets—and at a time when OPEC is failing to reach its production targets while the West prods the group to turn on the taps. The instability in Libya has caused the country’s crude oil production to fall to just 629,000 bpd as of June—the latest data available from OPEC, from the more than million barrels per day on average that Libya produced last year.
Libya also said on Tuesday that it would begin loading oil for export on Wednesday after the force majeure was lifted following the battle for control of the National Oil Corporation last week.
As of June 30th, Libya was exporting between 365,000 and 409,000 barrels per day—down from 865,000 bpd before the force majeure was declared in April, according to NOC data cited by S&P Platts.
Source:Oilprice.com
Ghana: Trinity Oil Introduces Quality Shield Lubricants To Boost Car Engine Performance
The rising cost of fuel across the world is making life unbearable for many people, especially owners of vehicles and commuters.
While fuel prices keep soaring due to the climate change agenda which has reduced investments in oil and gas, as well as the Russia-Ukraine war, prices of spare parts for vehicles have also been increasing due to exchange rate volatility, thus, compounding the problems of car owners.
In a bid to help car owners to save income amid the rising cost of fuel and spare parts, Trinity Oil Company has introduced to the Ghanaian market quality lubricants from Shield one of the best lubricant producers to boost engine performance.
Among the lubricants is Motor Cresol which is good for both diesel and petrol engines for commercial vehicles; Fleet Power Multi which enhances the performance of diesel engines and makes them last longer; Pro Gear SAE HD is recommended for buses and trucks under severe conditions; CNG Power which is good for gas engines; Performance Formula 4T, power booster for motorcycle and Pro ATF TQ helps the power steering perform better.
Speaking to energynewsafrica.com, the Executive Director of Trinity Oil Company Limited, Gabriel Kumi, said when it comes to automotive lubricants, people generally think of the engine oil and transmission fluid.
He said both reduce friction, therefore, fighting or delaying wear and tear.
He added that it also cleans and cools parts of the car, increasing fuel economy and extending the life of your engine.
“Now fake and substandard oils and lubricants lack the right additives or if you like ingredients to ensure that they perform these roles very well hence it causes more damage to the vehicle.
“It is the reason why we have brought onto the Ghanaian market a product recognised worldwide to be of top tier quality and standard and more importantly, one that is also reasonably priced. And I am talking here of Shield Lubricants.
“So people will not sacrifice quality on the altar of cost-effectiveness but with shield lubricants, they can have both and save their cars and the pockets too,” he explained.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
He said both reduce friction, therefore, fighting or delaying wear and tear.
He added that it also cleans and cools parts of the car, increasing fuel economy and extending the life of your engine.
“Now fake and substandard oils and lubricants lack the right additives or if you like ingredients to ensure that they perform these roles very well hence it causes more damage to the vehicle.
“It is the reason why we have brought onto the Ghanaian market a product recognised worldwide to be of top tier quality and standard and more importantly, one that is also reasonably priced. And I am talking here of Shield Lubricants.
“So people will not sacrifice quality on the altar of cost-effectiveness but with shield lubricants, they can have both and save their cars and the pockets too,” he explained.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com Kenya: Fuel Prices Remain Unchanged As State Releases Sh16Billion Subsidy
Fuel prices will remain unchanged in Kenya until August 14, 2022, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) announced on Thursday.
EPRA said the government had released a Sh16.675 billion ($1,961,764.70) subsidy to further cushion Kenyans from the high fuel prices.
Petrol will now retail at Sh159.12 ($18.72), Kerosene at Sh127.94 ($15.05) and diesel retail at Sh140.00($16.47).
Without the subsidy prices would have increased to Sh193.64 for diesel, sh209.95 for petrol and Sh 181.13 for Kerosene.
Last month, EPRA announced a hike in fuel prices by Sh9 per litre.
The price change were effective from June 15 to July 14, 2022.
The Authority said the government will use the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) to cushion customers from the high prices.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
South Africa: Eskom Sees Load Shedding Over By End Of This Week
Rolling power cuts in South Africa should come to an end by the end of this week as more power generation units come online, the chief executive of state power utility Eskom, Andre de Ruyter, said on Saturday.
Last month Eskom started implementing so-called “Stage 6” power cuts – or load shedding – for only the second time in its history, meaning most South Africans were without power for at least six hours a day.
The level of the outages has since been lowered, with Stage 2, 3 and 4 power cuts at different times this week.
Eskom has blamed the outages on striking workers hampering efforts to bring faulty generation units back online.
“Towards the end of the coming week, we should emerge from load shedding. We’ve already lifted our indication for load shedding going forward, we’ve got a couple of big units returning so that’s positive news,” De Ruyter told journalists.
He added that towards the end of July the risk would be significantly diminished once unit 2 of the Koeberg nuclear power station comes back onto the grid, which “is about 920 MW so that will bring large measure of relief.”
“But ultimately to put load shedding to bed, what we need is additional capacity because the system as it is at the moment is still unreliable and unpredictable,” de Ruyter said.
He was speaking at a brief news conference at Tutuka power station in Mpumalanga province after a site visit and meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, some ministers and managers of the plant for a progress report.
Ramaphosa said he’d meet other managers at another power station to get a closer insight of some of the problems and challenges they are facing.
“Having done so we’ll be able to come up with a number of proposals that can effectively deal with the challenges that the country faces when it comes to load shedding,” he also told reporters.
Eskom relies on an ageing coal fleet that is highly prone to faults. South Africa has faced intermittent power cuts for more than a decade that have hindered economic growth.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana: PURC Likely To Increase Electricity, Water Tariffs By 40%
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) is likely to announce an increment of between 35% and 40% for electricity and water tariffs barring any last minute changes.
The West African nation’s utilities regulator set 1st July 2022 to announce new tariff for water and electricity.
It, however, postponed the announcement of its tariff decision to 15 July, 2022.
Many were anticipating that the Commission will be announcing new tariffs on 15 July, 2022 as has been communicated to the public.
Unfortunately, the Commission on the 13 July, 2022 again postponed the announcement of new tariffs for electricity and water without indicating when it will announce the new tariffs.
During the last tariff increment in July 2019, electricity tariff went up by 11.17 % while water went up by 8.01%.
In an interview with the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, he said the Commission identified a number of issues during the analysis and examination of the tariff proposals, which necessitated further deliberations and engagements with the utilities to ensure that such pertinent issues are addressed.
Dr. Ackah further stated that, the Commission has scheduled a meeting with the regulated utilities to afford them the opportunity of providing clarity and justifications for some of the figures quoted in their proposals, and to respond to some important issues raised during the tariff analysis.
Meanwhile, energynewsafrica.com’s sources indicate that the Commission which is answerable to President Akufo-Addo is awaiting the President’s response on the recommendation for electricity and water tariffs to be increased between 35% and 40 % before making announcement to the public
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
South Africa: Sasol Outage Means All South African Oil Refineries Are Now Shut
South Africa’s largest fuel producer, Sasol has declared force majeure on the supply of petroleum products due to delays in deliveries of crude to the Natref refinery it owns with TotalEnergies, leaving just a fraction of the country’s fuel-production capacity still operational.
Natref, a 108,000 barrel-a-day plant, was forced to shut down after the late oil shipments, the company said in a statement.
“Sasol Oil will not be in a position to fully meet its commitments on the supply of all petroleum products from July 2022,” the firm said.
The shutdown means the whole of South Africa’s oil-refinery fleet is out of action after a string of other facilities suspended production over the past two years. As a result, the country’s monthly petroleum product imports are set to as much as triple by next year from pre-pandemic levels, energy consultant Citac said in a May report.
Only Sasol’s synthetic fuel operations, which use coal as a feedstock, remain fully operational, making up about a fifth of nationwide capacity.
A fire at the Engen oil refinery, which will be converted into a terminal, and an explosion at Glencore’s Cape Town refinery, have rapidly curbed capacity.
Sapref, the country’s biggest plant, which is owned by Shell Plc. and BP Plc., stopped operations ahead of a sale and was subsequently damaged by floods. State-owned PetroSA’s gas-to-liquids plant, another synthetic operation, has run out of feedstock.
Meanwhile, a clean-fuels policy that’s set to take effect next year raises the likelihood that refineries unable to meet the new standards will have to shut permanently.
For now, the outage at Natref is temporary. Crude oil shipments are expected to start arriving shortly, with the plant expected to ramp up to maximum production by the end of July, Sasol said. The partners have yet to conclude options on the future of the plant, Sasol Chief Executive Officer Fleetwood Grobler said earlier this year.
The Cape Town refinery is also expected to restart in the second half of 2022.
Ghana: Fuel Prices Drop Marginally
Fuel prices at the pump have witnessed marginal drop in the Republic of Ghana, following the fall of crude price on the international market.
Leading oil marketing companies GOIL and TotalEnergies have adjusted their pump prices downward to reflect drop in crude oil prices.
As at Monday morning, GOIL had adjusted Diesel XP price downward from Gh¢13.91 per litre to Gh¢13.63 per litre representing 28 pesewas reduction.
Petrol (Super XP) saw a downward reduction from Gh¢11.41 per litre to Gh¢11.30 per litre.
TotalEnergies adjusted diesel price downward from Gh¢14.59 per litre to Gh¢13.99 per litre while petrol price was adjusted downward from Gh¢11.59 per litre to Gh¢11.30 per litre.
It is likely some other OMCs will adjust their pump prices this week.
Crude oil prices have been falling since the beginning of July.
Last Wednesday, Brent crude took a nose dive falling below $100 per barrel.
It, however, jumped to $102.1 per barrel on Friday, 15 July 2022.
As at 9:00AM Monday, Brent Crude was trading at $103.9 per barrel.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Crude oil prices have been falling since the beginning of July.
Last Wednesday, Brent crude took a nose dive falling below $100 per barrel.
It, however, jumped to $102.1 per barrel on Friday, 15 July 2022.
As at 9:00AM Monday, Brent Crude was trading at $103.9 per barrel.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com Africa’s Wind Energy Industry Expected To Diversify As Interest To Harness The Continent’s Wind Grows
By Paul Sinclair
Outside of a limited number of countries, wind turbines have remained a rare sight in Africa. But this is not for lack of potential. In 2020, a study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) found that continental Africa possesses an onshore wind potential of almost 180,000 TWh/annum, enough to satisfy the entire continent’s electricity needs 250 times over. As the continent continues to seek ways to expand energy access, the adoption of wind as a source of energy is expected to accelerate.
Where The Wind Blows
So far, only Morocco, Egypt, and South Africa have been truly successful in harnessing their wind potential and attracting private capital to set up wind parks. Through its widely acclaimed Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) program, South Africa has already commissioned 34 wind farms with and installed capacity of over 3.3 GW, according to the country’s IPP Office.
And this is far from over. In 2021, the South African Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy announced 25 successful bidders under its REIPPP Bid Window 5, including 12 wind farms with a total capacity of 1,600 MW. Projects agreement for these facilities are expected to be signed before the end of 2022. The country also opened in April 2022 the REIPPP Bid Window 6, which will allocate a maximum capacity of 1,600 MW of wind, with projects ranging from 50 MW to 240 MW.
Up north, Morocco and Egypt continue to drive wind energy developments. The latter has an installed wind generation capacity of almost 1.5 GW across 13 wind farms according to its Ministry of Energy. It now expects to commission another 2 GW by 2025 with an additional 14 wind farms.
On the other side, Egypt has seen fewer but bigger projects. Its four wind farms have a current installed capacity of 1.6 GW. The most recent one, West Bakr, was commissioned by Lekela Power in November 2021.
The Role Of Development And Multilateral Finance
Across the rest of the continent, multilateral and development finance institutions (DFIs) have played a key role in supporting the emergence of the wind sector.
West Africa has increasingly harnessed its wind potential with facilities commissioned in Cabo Verde (Cabeólica, 2011), Senegal (Taiba Ndiaye, 2019), and Mauritania (Boulenouar, 2020). The projects received significant backing from the likes of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development (AFESD).
They have successfully laid the ground for more projects to follow. In December 2021, the U.S. DFC notably provided funding for a feasibility study to expand Senegal’s 158.7 MW Taiba Ndiaye Wind Farm by another 100 MW.
East Africa is also joining the game, led by Kenya. After the expansion of the Ngong facility in 2014, the country commissioned the 310 MW Lake Turkana Wind Farm in 2017 and the 100 MW Kipeto Wind Farm in 2021. The African Development Bank (AfDB) was the mandated lead arranger on Lake Turkana’s debt package and managed to attract several leading European DFIs to finance the project. On its side, Kipeto was mostly funded by the U.S. DFC.
After its success in Cabo Verde, the AFC has moved east where it is the lead developer on Djibouti’s Red Sea Wind Power Project in Ghoubet. The 60 MW facility is now nearing completion and is the country’s very first independent power producer (IPP).
An Ideal Choice To Cut Carbon Emissions
More recently, natural resources and extractive industries have provided an additional driver of wind energy adoption in Africa. Publicly listed oil & gas and mining companies seeking to decarbonize their portfolio and cut carbon emissions across their operations are indeed looking at wind.
In March 2022, Savannah Energy executed an agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energies of the Republic of Niger to develop the country’s first wind farm. Savannah Energy, operator of some of the most prolific oil blocks in Niger, is planning to construct and operate the 250 MW facility in the Tahoua Region. The wind farm will be structured as an IPP and is currently in feasibility study. It is expected to be sanctioned in 2023 for a potential commissioning in 2025.
In Zambia, First Quantum Minerals (FQM) entered into a new partnership with Chariot and Total Eren earlier this year to develop 430 MW of solar and wind power for its mining operations. The company notably operates Africa’s biggest copper mine by production in Zambia and seeks to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2025.
In South Africa, Anglo American is embarking on an even bigger project with EDF Renewables. Both companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in March this year to work together on the development of a new regional renewable energy ecosystem (RREE). The scheme is expected to be designed to meet Anglo American’s operational electricity requirements in South Africa through the supply of 100% renewable electricity by 2030. It notably seeks to develop a network of on-site and off-site solar and wind farms with storage totaling up to 5 GW to power Anglo American’s operations.
The Hydrogen Opportunity
Equally important, the emergence of Africa’s hydrogen industry will also be supporting the growth of its wind sector.
Last year, the Chariot Energy Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Mauritanian Ministry of Petroleum, Mines & Energy to progress Project Nour, a potential green hydrogen development of up to 10 GW. Under the MoU, Project Nour has been given exclusivity over 14,400km2 of onshore and offshore area in Mauritania where pre-feasibility and feasibility studies will be conducted to generate solar and wind power used in electrolysis to split water and produce green hydrogen and oxygen.
In Namibia, the government issued in late 2021 a notice of award to HYPHEN Hydrogen Energy, the joint-venture of Nicholas Holdings Limited and ENERTRAG South Africa (Pty) Ltd, to develop southern Africa’s first gigawatt scale green hydrogen project.
The $9.4bn scheme will be located within the Tsau//Khaeb National Park, which is amongst the top five resource rich locations in the world for co-located onshore wind and solar, according to Hyphen. The project’s full development targets 300,000 metric tons of green hydrogen production a year from 5GW of renewable generation capacity and 3GW electrolyser.
About Green Energy Africa Summit:
Green Energy Africa Summit, taking place on 4-5 October 2022 in Cape Town, is the global platform for stimulating deals and transactions across the African energy sector. The event brings together governments, national regulator and utility companies, independent power players, investors, financial institutions and service providers. The summit will drive deals and investment into energy projects, provide energy access and solutions for the continent and shape the future of Africa.
Paul Sinclair
Vice President of Energy & Director of Government Relations, Africa Oil Week and Green Energy Summit Africa (Green-Energy-Africa.com)
Cost Optimization Will be Necessary for Senegal and Mauritania Gas Projects (Article )
By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber
As I’ve mentioned before, when it comes to competing to be one of the European Union’s new natural gas suppliers, Senegal and Mauritania have several advantages.
One, they have geography on their side. Their location should make it easier and more efficient to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) to regasification terminals in European port cities than it would be for other, more distant African nations, such as Mozambique, which is slated to begin LNG production later this year. Two, they have demand on their side, as the EU is eager to build up a more diverse roster of multiple suppliers, each capable of replacing part of the large amount Russia has been delivering on its own. Senegal and Mauritania are set to begin production when Europeans’ memories of anxiety over fuel supplies are still quiet fresh, so they will be in a good position to establish a solid business relationship. This creates an obvious edge for Senegal and Mauritania, as strong demand generally lifts prices.
And three, they have timing on their side. EU authorities want to see the bloc’s Russian gas imports come down by two-thirds before the end of this year, and Senegal and Mauritania are scheduled to bring their first export-oriented gas project, Greater Tortue/Ahmeyim (GTA), online in the third quarter of 2023.
But this combination of advantages won’t be permanent. Granted, the geography won’t change. We can assume the distance between Dakar and Europe will stay the same during our lifetimes. But gas demand and the timing of new greenfield projects will change. The EU won’t always be conducting such a critical search for new gas suppliers as it is doing right now, and African gas producers won’t always be launching new fields at such propitious moments.
Accordingly, Senegal and Mauritania ought to be doing some big-picture thinking. As we state in our soon-to-be-released report, Petroleum Laws – Benchmarking Report for Senegal and Mauritania, these countries should be asking questions, not just about how to use their resources to meet the needs of the moment but also about how to optimize their resources and maximize returns over the long haul.
Here are two of the big questions that I believe are worth asking — and the answers the African Energy Chamber (AEC) would give.
Are Gas Development Plans Primarily Focused on Exports, Or Do They Also Make Provisions for the Build-Up of Local And Regional Gas Markets?
Without a doubt, the Chamber believes that African gas projects should have as many African components as possible. That’s why we favor partnerships between international oil companies (IOCs) and their African counterparts — partnerships that involve training programs and skills and technology transfers. That’s why we favor local content policies that are designed to support service companies in sectors where African providers have and can obtain advantages.
That’s also why we favor the establishment of gas-based industries within Africa. We believe that gas-producing states should have the right — and the opportunity — to use their own resources not just to earn foreign exchange, but to transform their own economies.
So as Senegal and Mauritania work with IOCs to move gas development and exports forward, they should also be making plans for domestic gasification. They should be thinking about bringing gas onshore, where it can be used as fuel for power plants, as a source of energy for industrial facilities, and as a source of feedstock for petrochemical plants. These are all things that can create jobs, eliminate energy poverty, and raise standards of living, thereby changing people’s lives for the better!
Fortunately, Senegal is already taking steps in this direction. President Macky Sall has already unveiled plans for using most of its share of gas production to improve domestic electricity supplies. The state natural gas concern, Senegal Gas Network (SGN) led by the former Petrosen E&P Director, Joseph Medou, has said it will build an onshore pipeline to carry a portion of the production from offshore fields to five onshore thermal power plants (TPPs) that are currently burning dirty residual fuel oil. SGN appears to be hopeful of finishing this pipeline in 2024, around the same time that work on four new TPPs is due to be completed. This is also right around the same time Senegal’s second offshore gas project (Yaakar-Terenga, once again led by BP in partnership with Kosmos Energy) is supposed to start production.
So far, so good! The AEC is genuinely encouraged by Senegal’s progress on this front to date. But it is also hopeful that the country will explore gasification programs further in the future, given that such programs can have a powerful multiplier effect on the local economy.
In practical terms, if Senegal really wants to optimize its gas resources over the long term, it ought to act now to make gas the mainstay of its own economy, perhaps looking beyond electricity generation and into petrochemicals or another gas-based manufacturing sector. And it should make certain that BP and the other IOCs working in the country’s offshore zone provide the right kind of help to make this happen.
Do Gas Development Plans Have the Flexibility To Respond to Future Shifts in World Energy Markets?
Once again, the AEC believes it’s not enough to plan for the needs of the moment. Africa’s newest gas producers also have to look ahead and think about how they can optimize their resources in the decades to come, when world energy markets will be driven by forces beyond current factors such as Russia’s war on Ukraine.
That’s why it was encouraging to see that Mauritania signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last December with New Fortress Energy (NFE) on the establishment of an offshore energy hub capable of using natural gas to support the production of LNG, electricity, and blue ammonia fuel. The document isn’t binding, so it doesn’t guarantee that this project will come to fruition. But it does pave the way for the country to do several important things.
First, it puts Mauritania in a position to outfit its offshore energy hub with NFE’s “Fast LNG” technology. With this technology, the country will be able to install modular units on a jack-up drilling rig or another type of legacy marine infrastructure to establish a mid-size gas liquefaction plant – and it will be able to do so far more quickly and cheaply than it would if it opted for a more conventional solution, such as an onshore LNG plant or even an FLNG vessel like the one BP and Kosmos will be using at GTA. What’s more, it will be able to scale up LNG production if it chooses to do so by installing additional modules. As a result, Mauritania won’t just be just another producer and exporter of LNG; it will also be a low-cost producer and exporter of LNG with the flexibility to respond quickly if rising demand justifies additional investment in production capacity.
Second, the MoU makes provisions for expanding Mauritania’s domestic electricity supply. It calls for the offshore energy hub to deliver gas to Nouakchott Nord, an existing 180-MW TPP in the capital city of Nouakchott, and also to a new 120-MW combined-cycle TPP that the national power provider Somelec is planning to build. With this new generation capacity, Mauritania will be in a position to offer its citizens a better life —and offer job-creating businesses a more attractive operating environment. Moreover, by emphasizing gas-fired power generation, it will be able to reduce pollution. Currently, the main fuel of the Nouakchott Nord plant is residual fuel oil (RFO), which burns much less cleanly than gas.
Third, the project may be based on natural gas, but it also looks ahead to a fuel of the future – and by that, I mean ammonia. As mentioned above, the energy hub will have a blue ammonia unit, in which natural gas will be used as feedstock for the production of ammonia. This facility will help establish a market for ammonia, thereby laying the groundwork for future production of green ammonia – that is, ammonia manufactured using green hydrogen produced from renewable energy.
Mauritania stands to benefit from this expansion of its renewable resources capabilities, since it has tremendous solar and wind potential in addition to substantial gas reserves. The benefits may not be immediate, since it will take more time to realize that potential, but they could be very substantial indeed – especially if the country achieves its goals of bringing the share of renewables in the energy mix up to 50% by 2030 and developing multiple large-scale green hydrogen and ammonia projects.
Senegal And Mauritania Are Looking to The Future
Overall, Senegal and Mauritania deserve praise for their approach to gas development.
Not only are they on track to become two of the first new gas producers in Africa to join the list of the EU’s gas suppliers, but they’re also taking steps to optimize the use of their resources.
They’re making plans to use their gas to produce electricity for the domestic market, not just to earn dollars on the export market.
They’re taking advantage of the flexibility inherent in new technologies offered by foreign partners such as NFE.
And they’re thinking about what comes next—what happens when the world shifts from gas to renewable energy. And for that, the AEC commends them.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Ghana: GNPC Begins Saltpond Field Decommissioning Project
Ghana’s national oil company, GNPC, has officially commenced the decommissioning of the Mr. Louie Platform in the Saltpond Oil Field in the Central Region.
According to the Corporation, the decommissioning project is estimated to last twelve months.
This is the first time a decommissioning project of this kind is taking place in Ghana.
GNPC is the lead contractor and is, therefore, standing in readiness to work hand-in-hand to ensure the success of the project.
Having obtained majority of the statutory approvals and key permits, GNPC will provide both financial and technical support to fully execute the year-long project.
The Mr. Louie Platform, which was commissioned in 1970, has reached the end of its operational life and is deteriorating.
GNPC has engaged Hans & Co. Limited [a wholly Ghanaian-owned Company] to lead a consortium of industry experts in undertaking the project on a turnkey basis.
The project will be supported by a project management consultancy firm to ensure that all aspects of the decommissioning, including well plugging and abandonment and topside removal, are performed with strict adherence to Health, Safety, Security and Environmental (HSSE) protocols.
The Acting CEO of GNPC, Mr Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah stated that “the decommissioning of the first oil platform in Ghana is necessary to ensure that the marine ecosystem around the Saltpond area is returned to its pre-licence condition. With several oil and gas platforms expected to be decommissioned in the future, GNPC personnel will gain additional hands-on technical capabilities by collaborating with other experienced industry experts during this exercise.”
Mr. Danquah further revealed that the field decommissioning process was preceded by pre-planning and a feasibility study that was endorsed by the Ministry of Energy.
“While we continue to work to meet all the technical and safety requirements, the Corporation is also enhancing its social license to operate by continuously holding Stakeholder and community engagements in coastal communities where the project is taking place. This is to sensitise fisher folk about the importance and need to observe safety measures and stay away from the restricted zone. We have also supported the traditional authorities to perform all the necessary customary rites for the project to kick-off.” Mr. Danquah added.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of GNPC thanked the Ministry of Energy, Petroleum
Commission, Ghana Maritime Authority, National Security, Environmental Protection Agency and other key stakeholders, whose representatives were present at the kick-off for their support in ensuring that the project takes off successfully.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com