South Sudan’s Ministry of Energy and Dams, says it is working on the rollout of public private partnerships to bring power to regional cities, based on the success of its partnership with Ezra Power in Juba.
The city grid became operational in 2019, but the ministry expects that by March 2020 all homes and businesses should have access to power.
“Electricity is a basic need and electricity is the engine of development. If you look into the criteria used to start a development, you will see that electricity is at the top. If we aspire to be like other developing countries, we need to help generate electricity,” Minister of Energy and Dams, Hon. Dr. Dhieu Mathok Diing Wol said during the swearing in ceremony of the new Undersecretary Hon. Macham Mecham Angui.
The ministry has acknowledged the high tariff price of the new power system and is working on reducing it as a priority. The first 100 kW of power is free, to help low income residents.
Former Undersecretary and new Technical Advisor Eng. Lawrence Loku Moyu noted that the government had plans to expand the country’s grid networks, “but these network expansions need human resources to develop; we need new engineers, technicians, to bring these expansions to South Sudan.”
Moyu further highlighted that after gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan had not yet obtained feasibility studies done by the Khartoum government on the power sector. Purchasing these studies and implementing their recommendations is a strategic objective for the ministry.
“The new engineers that we are recruiting will have to study this program from the beginning. Getting these studies and implementing their recommendations is now a priority for us,” he concluded.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghana’s power transmission company, GRIDCo, has attributed Friday afternoon’s power outage to a fault that occurred on one of its transmission lines from Tema to Accra.
In a statement signed by Ebenezer Amankwah, Corporate Communications Manager at GRIDCo, it said the fault resulted in a number generation facilities tripping, leading to outages in Accra and other parts of the country.
“Our Maintenance team responded immediately to restore the affected transmission circuits and power supply has since been fully restored to all parts of the country at approximately 14:30 pm,” the statement indicated.
The power transmitter apologised for the inconvenience the situation caused to power users and assured that it is committed to carrying out its mandate of delivering reliable power supply.
GRIDCo operates the Ghana Wholesale Electricity Market and provides electricity transmission services in Ghana and West Africa.
The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea has signed a number of Memorandum of Understanding with successful bidders of its 2019 Licensing Round, on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.
Under EG-RONDA 2019, the government of Equatorial Guinea offered 27 free blocks for exploration across its sedimentary basins.
The licensing round generated interest from 53 companies and resulted in 17 bids.
The agreements were signed for Block EG-27 with Lukoil and GEPetrol (Niger Basin, offshore), EG-23 with WalterSmith, Hawtai Energy and GEPetrol (Niger Basin offshore), EG-09 with Noble Energy and GEPetrol (Duala Basin, offshore), EG-18 with Africa Oil Corporation and GEPetrol (Rio Muni basin, offshore), EG-03, EG-04, EG-19 and Block P with Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol (Rio Muni Basin, onshore) and EG-28 with GEPetrol (Rio Muni Basin, offshore).
The signing of these MoUs is a first step towards the fast completion of the Production Sharing Contracts.
Apart from the oil blocks, MMH also signed MoU with Blue Magnolia, who was assigned seven blocks for copper, rare earth elements, PGE, gold, lead, uranium and bauxite among others; Oro Sac ACorp (M-Partners), who was assigned four blocks for gold, platinum, copper, zinc, lead and nickel; Akoga Resources, who was assigned two blocks for PGE, nickel, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium among others; Manhattan Mining Investment Inc, who was assigned one block for gold, and finally Shefa Minerals who was also assigned one block for gold.
“The results coming out of the EG Ronda 2019 were very encouraging and we hope to see a robust and sustained exploration activity in Equatorial Guinea once these contracts are signed,”H.E. Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons said.
“In 2020, the Year of Investment will see the signing and execution of several such contracts and projects, not only in upstream but also midstream and downstream.”
Exploration activity has been slowly recovering in the Gulf of Guinea. In 2019 for instance, Noble Energy announced a discovery after drilling the Aseng 6P well at a depth of 4,000 metres in Equatorial Guinea, confirming expectations that the country remains a promising frontier for oil and gas exploration. Recent discoveries are expected to add an additional 20,000 bopd to Equatorial Guinea’s oil production this year.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), operators of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP), will on Monday January 20, 2020, commence a cleanup and inspection exercise of its offshore pipeline from Nigeria to Ghana.
The exercise expected to be completed by March 21, 2020.
According to a statement signed by the Head of Communications and Public Affairs of Ghana’s Energy Ministry, Nana Kofi Oppong-Damoah, the exercise is intended to protect the integrity and assure safe operations of WAPCo’s offshore pipeline.
“In addition to cleaning the pipeline of debris, pigging will provide critical information on the condition of the pipeline to improve decisions on effective maintenance of the pipeline, prolong its lifespan and to improve safety of the pipeline operations,” the statement explained.
The Cleanup exercise will temporarily limit the availability of gas at the Tema offtake facility posing a challenge to power generation in the country.
The Energy Ministry said it is working in collaboration with the Finance Ministry and other key holders in the West African country’s gas-to-power sector, to reduce the impact on power supply in the country.
“Since there will be limited gas supply for power generation in Tema during the period, the Ministry of Energy in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other key players in the country’s gas-to-power sector have made provision to mitigate the impact on the country’s grid system to ensure reliable and stable power supply.”
Read below the full statement:
For Immediate Release
OFFSHORE PIPELINE CLEANING AND INSPECTION EXERCISE
Accra, January 17, 2020 – Ministry of Energy wishes to inform the general public that, the West African Gas Pipeline Company Limited (WAPCo), operator of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) will commence a cleaning and inspection of its offshore pipeline from Nigeria to Ghana, often referred to as “pigging” in the pipeline industry. This customary maintenance activity is intended to protect the integrity and assure safe operations of WAPCo’s offshore pipeline which is the main critical asset of the company, transporting natural gas within the four (4) West African States of Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. The exercise will start on January 20, and is expected to be completed no later than March 21, 2020.
This activity is consistent with regulatory requirements and also important for maintaining the integrity of the pipeline to ensure efficient and reliable operations. In addition to cleaning the pipeline of debris, pigging will provide critical information on the condition of the pipeline to improve decisions on effective maintenance of the pipeline, prolong its lifespan and to improve safety of the pipeline operations. Effluents from the pigging will be discharged in Takoradi in line with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements.
Pigging consists of cleaning and internal inspection of the offshore pipeline from Nigeria to Ghana using multiple cleaning Pipeline Inspection Gauges (PIGS) and an “intelligent pig” for data gathering on structural integrity. The PIG will be launched from WAPCo’s Lagos Beach Compressor Station (LBCS) in Badagry, Nigeria and will be received at their Takoradi Regulating & Metering Station (RMS).
This maintenance activity is expected to temporarily limit availability of gas at the Tema, Lome and Cotonou offtake facilities. Since there will be limited gas supply for power generation in Tema during the period, the Ministry of Energy in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other key players in the country’s gas-to-power sector have made provision to mitigate the impact on the country’s grid system to ensure reliable and stable power supply.
……………………………..
NANA KOFI OPPONG-DAMOAH
HEAD, COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), in the Tema Region of the Republic of Ghana, has recovered GHc 88,184.56 from 75,400kwh units of power which was consumed illegally by some customers.
Briefing energynewsafrica.com, Mrs. Zita Kyei-Gyamfi, who is the Tema Regional Revenue Protection Manager, said the Revenue Protection Section received complaints of illegal activities by some customers, and therefore embarked on eight days’ operations during the Christmas break to clamp down on those engaging in illegal connections.
She said the team visited commercial premises like hotels, drinking spots, pubs and shops with assistance of the Tema Regional Police.
According to her, during the operation, it was found that three meters, which were installed in one hotel, had been bypassed, adding that a pub with two meters were found by-passed.
She said her outfit, consequently, charged the culprits accordingly.
The ECG explained that the exercise also revealed that some of the meters were found to have been tampered with.
“The Revenue Protection Section of the Tema Region is not going to relax until all hidden illegal connections are unearthed,” Mrs Zita Kyei stated.
Ing. Joseph Mensah Forson, General Manager of Tema Region who commended the team for the exercise also cautioned customers who are engaging in illegal connections to desist from the practice.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mahammudu Bawumia says the government is taking steps to ensure that the the West African country’s Bulk Oil Storage & Transportation Company Limited (BOST) is adequately resourced to lead the transformation of the petroleum product distribution system.
This, he said, is because petroleum downstream sector is a critical component in meeting the energy requirements of the country.
He added that an efficient and effective petroleum products distribution system is important and essential to the economic growth of the country.
In view of this, Dr Bawumia said the government is committed to improving the movement of petroleum products within the country by developing other modes of transport such as rail, water and pipeline to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of petroleum products distribution in the country.
The Vice President was speaking at the launching of Electronic Cargo System and National Command Centre established by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to monitor movement of Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs), which transport petroleum products across the West African nation.
On his part, Deputy Minister for energy in charge of Petroleum, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam noted that the West African nation has limited capacity in the transportation of petroleum products via the Volta Lake to the northern part of the country.
“Our capacity in pipeline transportation is next to nothing while we currently have no capacity in transporting petroleum products by rail,” he observed.
Dr Mohammed Amin Adam assured the industry players of the government’s determination to address the capacity challenges facing the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company and the Volta Lake Transport Company in the distribution of petroleum products, indicating that the 98 percent of all petroleum products transported by road was on the high side.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Tullow Oil has announced a $1.5bn (£1.15bn) writedown on its outlook after lowering its long-term oil price outlook.
The energy firm slashed its prediction for oil prices by $10 to $65 a barrel, with underwhelming well exploration and a reduction in Ghanaian reserves also contributing to the write-down.
“Tullow expects to report pretax impairments and exploration write-offs of circa $1.5bn (c. $1.3bn post tax),” the company said in a statement posted on its website.
“Write-offs include Jethro, Joe and Carapa well costs in Guyana as a result of drilling results and Kenya Block 12A, Mauritania C3, PEL37 Namibia and Jamaica licence costs due to the levels of planned future activity or licence exits.”
Tullow Oil’s share price slipped 1.6 per cent in early trading to 58.2p.
In a bid to guard itself from oil price fluctuations Tullow Oil has hedged 45,000 barrels per day of its 2020 output with an average floor price of $57.28. For next year, it has hedged 22,000 barrels per day at $52.80 each.
It expects to generate cash flow of at least $150m from 75,000 barrels per day at $60.
But it was forced to suspend an early oil pilot scheme in Kenya due to “severe damage” to roads caused by bad weather in the last quarter of 2019.
“Trucking remains on hold until all roads are repaired to a safe standard,” Tullow warned.
Tullow is still searching for a new chief executive after its share price plunged 70 per cent in December following the resignation of Pat McDade on the back of the business’ poor performance.
His resignation, alongside that of exploration director Angus McCoss, wiped £1.2bn off the firm’s market value.
Problems with its Ghana drilling operations forced Tullow to cut its production guidance for 2019 to 87,000 barrels per day from 89,000.
Tuloow said it ended 2019 with an average production of 86,700 barrels per day and free cash flow of $350m.
“Since our December announcement, Tullow’s senior team has been working hard on a major review focused on delivering a more efficient and effective organisation,” Tullow Oil executive chair Dorothy Thompson said.
“The fundamentals of our business remain intact: recent reserves audits demonstrate that we have a solid underlying reserves and resources base in West and East Africa, our producing assets continue to generate good cash flow and we retain a high-quality exploration portfolio.
“The board and senior management are confident of the long-term potential of the portfolio and see meaningful opportunities to improve operational performance, reduce our cost base, deliver sustainable free cash flow and reduce our debt.”
Italian oil and gas company Eni has started oil production from its operated Agogo field, located offshore Angola, only nine months after its discovery,offshoreenergytoday.com has reported.
Eni announced a major oil discovery in Block 15/06, in the Agogo exploration prospect, in Angola’s deep water in March 2019. Eni operates two FPSOs in Block 15/06, the N’Goma in West Hub and Olombendo in East Hub.
The Agogo-1 NFW well, which has led to the discovery, is located approximately 180 kilometers off the coast and about 20 kilometers west from the N’Goma FPSO. The well was drilled by the Poseidon drillship in a water depth of 1636 meters and reached a total depth of 4450 meters.
According to Angola’s National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels’ statement on Thursday, at the moment, the field is producing around 10,000 barrels of oil per day and is projected to reach 20,000 per day in the coming months.
The agency said that the achievement was a result of the synergies developed with the N’Goma FPSO. The field is producing as a subsea tie-back to the FPSO.
It is estimated that the field contains 650 million barrels of light oil in place with further upside, confirmed by the Agogo-2, the first appraisal well of the Agogo discovery drilled in July 2019.
The Block 15/06 Joint Venture is composed of Eni (operator, with a 36.8421% stake), Sonangol P&P (36.8421%), and SSI Fifteen Limited (26.3158%).
In a separate statement on Friday, Eni said that the record time set for the field to become operational, nine months after its discovery last March, confirmed its successful endorsement of the fast track model in the development of its discoveries, a strategy based on operational synergies with already existing infrastructure that maximizes projects value.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The African Energy Chamber has commended Kosmos Energy for appointing Senegalese national Khady Dior Ndiaye as Vice President and Regional Director for West Africa.
According to the Energy Chamber, her appointment is a very positive step towards promoting women in leadership positions in the oil sector and recognising the extremely talented energy leaders emerging out of West Africa.
“The appointment of Khady Dior Ndiaye is a brilliant move and in line with our belief that women can and should lead,” Nj Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber and author of Billions At Play said.
“The oil industry cannot be the last bastion of male domination. Congratulations to Kosmos Energy on showing the way for others in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Angola or South Africa to follow!”
Khady Dior Ndiaye has demonstrated her leadership skills working for Citibank in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal.
She will lead Kosmos Energy’s operations in the region at very important times for the company and for Senegal who expects to be producing first oil and gas within two years.
“The African Energy Chamber wishes her all the best in her new role and assures her of all its support to lead the region towards greater prosperity,” the chamber said in a statement.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Ghanaian energy firm, Springfield Exploration and Production Limited’s Afina well oil discovery in November has been named amongst the top ten most significant global hydrocarbon discoveries in 2019.
The list, compiled by IHS Markit, a United Kingdom based world class intelligence gathering organization with over 5000 analysts, data scientists, financial experts and industry specialists also positioned Springfield E&P as one of five global oil companies that made discoveries in Deepwater and the only indigenous company on the continent to do so.
The other discovery in Africa was BP’s Orca-1 in Mauritania.
Springfield’s Afina-1 well discovery in its West Cape Three Points Block 2 in November 2019, was considered very significant and more than doubled its proven oil reserves to 1.5 billion barrels and added 0.7tcf of gas to the existing discoveries.
The other major discoveries were by Exxon Mobil in Cyprus and Guyana, Repsol in Indonesia, Petrochina Tarim in China and CNOOCI in the United Kingdom.
The rest are PTTEP in Malaysia and Iranian Central Oil in Iran.
Commenting on the acknowledgement, CEO of Springfield E&P, Kevin Okyere in a post on LinkedIn stated that: “While celebrating the past, we look forward to even greater achievements, knowing what lies ahead. And we do know that all of this is possible because we work together with an amazing team of dedicated and committed people; from regulator, partners, contractors, suppliers to our employees.”
Springfield is Operator of the West Cape Three Points Block 2 with 84% interest while Ghana’s National Oil Company, GNPC and its Exploration Unit, EXPLORCO together hold the remaining 16% interest.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Eastern Region of Ghana has retrieved about GHS949,000.00 from detected illegal connections last year.
The amount represents penalties and surcharges slapped on customers who were caught using electricity illegally in 2019.
Speaking to the media in Koforidua, the Acting Revenue Protection Manager, Sylvester Ofosu Amankwaah stated that customers who were caught engaging in illegal connection in the region included hoteliers, restaurants owners, cold store operators, drinking pubs owners, individuals and some media houses.
He explained that the types of illegal connections detected included meter tampering, meter by-pass, illegal self-reconnection and illegal direct connection.
According to Mr. Ofosu Amankwaah, the Revenue Protection Unit of the ECG in the region, during their monitoring exercise, visited 4,014 meters and detected 16 unauthorised service connections, two illegal direct connections, 29 meters tampered, 176 faulty meters and 111 meters on wrong tariff class.
“Meters that were identified to be on wrong tariff classes were corrected and the identified faulty meters replaced”, he added.
Mr Ofosu Amankwaah stated that through the monitoring exercise, ECG was able to recover about 1,196,681KWh units of electricity which were lost through illegal connections and added that the total units recovered translated into GHS1,203,878 of which an amount of GHS949,116 had been retrieved from customers.
The Regional General Manager of ECG, Ing. Michael Baah stated that the Eastern Regional Office of ECG has initiated series of revenue protection activities aimed at unearthing illegalities in the system and reducing power losses due to power theft.
“If we are able to reduce commercial losses, we could achieve the system losses benchmark of 20 per cent by the end of the year 2020”, he said.
Ing. Michael Baah stated that it is a crime to steal power and that customers who are caught in such acts would be prosecuted.
“Anyone found culpable of illegal connection will face the law,” he cautioned.
He, therefore, cautioned customers to desist from illegal connection and endeavour to pay their bills.
He also encouraged members of the general public to voluntarily report any suspected illegal connection to the nearest ECG office and said, “ECG will reward informants of illegal connection”.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Akufo-Addo administration in the Republic of Ghana has begun fixing and replacing non-functional streetlights on the Accra-Tema motorway.
The exercise, which started few days ago, has so far seen replacement of non- functional streetslights from the Tetteh Quarshie interchange to the Sidalco stretch of the motorway.
Readers would recall that energynewsafrica.com reported in November last year that Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) had planned to fix streetlights on the Accra-Tema motorway as part of its plans to provide some 18,000 streetlights in Accra, capital of Ghana.
Contractors working on the streets lights on the Accra-Tema Motorway on Wednesday
However, energynewsafrica.com understands that prior to publication government had already taken the decision to it.
The 19-km Accra-Tema motorway, which was built during the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, in 1965, to link the harbour city of Tema and Accra, has been without streetlights for ages.
In June 2002, there was a report by the Ghana News Agency that the government of the West African nation was to spend 1.95 million cedis to light the motorway. The project was to commemorate the country’s Golden Jubilee in 2007.
The project had some challenges that delayed its completion.
The late President Atta Mills’ administration commenced the motorway streetlights project but it could not be completed.
Unfortunately, criminals along the motorway stole most of the electrical cables while irresponsible and reckless drivers knocked down most of the poles.
Many users of the road have lamented over the poor visibility on the road especially in the night.
It was the hope of many users of the road that one day the government would be concerned about the sad situation and act.
Ghana’s power distribution company, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has lost a whopping GHc1, 308,581.63 as a result of power theft.
The power theft was detected after a day and night operations carried out in seven regions by the Revenue Protection Unit of ECG from December 21, 2019, to January 7, this year in seven regions.
Out of 1,578 meters visited, the operation taskforces of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Revenue Protection Unit recorded 100 illegal connections.
The total charges of all the culprits amounted to GHc1, 460,795.79 but as at January 13, 2020, only GHc152, 214.16 had been paid to the ECG, which owes its creditor, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), an enormous amount.
Michael Twum-Barima Boadu, General Manager of the Revenue Protection Unit, told journalists in Accra that hotels, night clubs, pubs and some suspicious homes were visited unannounced for the operation.
“We chose the holiday period because that was when we knew power thievery would be very high.
“We carried out the operations in Accra West, Accra East, Tema, Eastern, ASBU, Western and Central regions.
“We recovered 3,600 total kilowatt/hour (Kwh) units of power from the Eastern Region and that was the least. Accra West recorded the highest theft…the total charge was GHc1,056,421.94 and the balance to collect from the suspects is GHc1,040,969.78,” Michael Twum-Barima Boadu explained.
He said any one kilowatt of power lost is equivalent to US$17 million.
“So, I can tell you that we are losing a lot of revenues to illegal connections and we are going to go hard on power thieves,” Mr Boadu promised.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Siemens, a German global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ghana through the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) under the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) initiative.
The agreement will see Siemens working collaboratively with GRIDCo to upgrade and extend Ghana’s power transmission infrastructure, improve the country’s grid capacity and stability, as well as enable and expand a stable power export to neighbouring countries in the West African Power Pool.Addressing the President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo during a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House to seal the deal, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, said he was pretty much excited that the deal has finally been completed.
“The MOU we have signed together with our partners, GRIDCO, is aimed at modernizing the whole grid of Ghana to bring power to the people in a more efficient way,” Mr Kaeser said as carried by Starrfm.com.gh
President Akufo-Addo in response to the submissions by Siemens CEO noted that the signing of the MOU is a very important development in the history of the country.“This is a very welcomed development for us and the idea that Ghana is the first country on the continent to be getting a very significant transaction out the Compact (G20 Compact with Africa, CwA) is in itself a big vote of confidence by the German Leadership”. “We welcome that expression of confidence and we want to assure you that the monies will be put to good use”
The G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) was initiated under the German G20 Presidency to promote private investment in Africa, including in infrastructure.
The CwA’s primary objective is to increase the attractiveness of private investment through substantial improvements of the macro, business and financing frameworks.Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Addressing the President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo during a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House to seal the deal, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, said he was pretty much excited that the deal has finally been completed.
“The MOU we have signed together with our partners, GRIDCO, is aimed at modernizing the whole grid of Ghana to bring power to the people in a more efficient way,” Mr Kaeser said as carried by Starrfm.com.gh
President Akufo-Addo in response to the submissions by Siemens CEO noted that the signing of the MOU is a very important development in the history of the country.
“This is a very welcomed development for us and the idea that Ghana is the first country on the continent to be getting a very significant transaction out the Compact (G20 Compact with Africa, CwA) is in itself a big vote of confidence by the German Leadership”. “We welcome that expression of confidence and we want to assure you that the monies will be put to good use”
The G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) was initiated under the German G20 Presidency to promote private investment in Africa, including in infrastructure.
The CwA’s primary objective is to increase the attractiveness of private investment through substantial improvements of the macro, business and financing frameworks.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com