Energy

In the space of ten years Africa’s renewable energy sector has undergone phenomenal change. Managing director of African Energy, Lincoln Dahl, discusses how his company has remained at the centre of a rapidly evolving market.

Developed by Blue Energy, a UK-based renewable energy investment company, the Nzema project in Ghana will be ultimately be able to provide electricity to more than 100,000 homes.

Construction work on the $400 million plant is due to begin within the next 12 months, with the developers optimistic that finance will be confirmed within half of that time. Upon completion, the 155 megawatt plant will increase Ghana’s generating capacity by six percent.

Royal Dutch Shell scooped two honours in the Platts Global Energy Awards in New York City last night.

The awards program, now in its 14th year, is one of the energy industry's premier recognition events and often referred to as the "Oscars" of the energy industry.

Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell took the much sought-after Energy Company of the Year and Commodity Excellence Award for Natural Gas.

The acquisition, worth $5 billion, represents the state-controlled producer’s largest overseas purchase and comes at a time when ONGC is looking to increase production to fuel India’s growing economy.

At present, India imports almost 80 percent of the oil it requires. This is due to the fact that its refining capacity has outgrown the oil output locally.

According to a recent report, China's apparent* oil demand rose 6.6 percent year over year in October to 41.28 million metric tons (mt), or an average 9.76 million barrels per day (b/d).

The Platts analysis of recent Chinese government data showed October’s apparent demand was the third highest on record, slightly lower than the record 9.8 million b/d in September and the 9.77 million b/d seen in February this year.

Managing director Bridget Thomson talks about how the provision of commercial diver training is contributing towards South Africa’s development as a hub for oil and gas activities.

This deal will see Sinopec acquire one fifth of the OML 138 oil block. This block includes the Usan oilfield, which began producing in February, and is jointly owned alongside Chevron, Exxon and Nexen.

Estimated to cost around 16 billion euros, the South Stream pipeline will be jointly funded by Gazprom, Italy’s Eni, France’s EDF and a unit of Germany’s BASP, with the former expected to fund half of the capital expenditure.

Due to start operating in 2015, the pipeline will travel under the Black Sea via the Balkans, bringing up to 63 billion cubic metres of gas annually. Upon completion the pipeline will reach Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg, while a second will reach Croatia and Greece.

The growth and development in the extracting of oil from shale rock has been given as the primary reason for this, with the method providing the US with the ability to gain significantly more extractable oil resources. Furthermore, the IEA predicts that further progress in this field could lead to the US becoming all but self-sufficient in its energy needs by around 2035.

Kentz Pty has been awarded a US$45 million, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the 75MWp Kalkbult solar photovoltaic project in the Northern Cape area of South Africa.

Awarded by Scatec Solar which is developing the Kalkbult solar PV project, this is a key component of Phase 1 of the South African Department of Energy's 3,725MW Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Program.