Private developer FASOBIOGAZ, subsidiary of FASOGAZ, has installed the first electric biogas plant of Burkina Faso. With a capacity of 275 KW, it is located in the Kossodo industrial area in Ouagadougou and will supply about 4,100 households. “We will gradually increase our production capacity to 1.4 MW by 2017. This will allow us to supply up to 22,700 households”, Gilbert Brenninkmeyer...

In Burundi, 96% of the energy consumption comes from biomass, a situation which puts at risk the forestry of the country. “The over-use of biomass could lead in the short term to a catastrophic deforestation following the intensive, expansive and uncontrolled clearing of the forests and the generalised and systematic destruction of nature reserves” Siméon Habonimana, minister of Energy and...

IMF revised downwards its growth perspectives for sub-Saharan Africa and called governments to implement economic policies adapted to the new international environment, we learnt from the October 2015 edition of the economic prospects for this sub-region, entitled “Facing a degrading environment”. The institution recognises that “the fast growth of the last ten years masked the...

In order to promote the development of its economy and to meet the growth of electricity demand, the State of Mali, on June, 18th, 2015, signed a 30-year concession agreement with the company «KENIE ENERGIE RENOUVELABLE», subsidiary of Eranove Group. Under the agreement, this company will finance, develop, build and operate the Kenié hydro-electric plant. This signing followed an international...

Chase Bank and the French Development Agency have signed a €10 Million (Sh1.12 billion) loan agreement to finance green energy projects in Kenya. According to Chase Bank’s chief executive Paul Njaga,thefund is to be lent to business owners that want to invest in renewable energy technologies projects such as small hydro, biomass, biogas, solar, geothermal and other energy efficiency...

Engen has announced the launch of the Gateway Truck Stop at Beitbridge, Musina, South Africa. The Truck stop is aimed at responding to requests for an on-road refueling site serving long-haul vehicles travelling to Musina and beyond. According to Mike Stead, Engen’s Commercial Fuel Manager recognizing the need for convenient, safe and comfortable truck stops, as well as growing its...

Cairn Energy has today begun an appraisal program aimed at assessing the SNE oil discovery, offshore Senegal. According to FAR Limited, the three wells SNE-2, SNE-3 and BEL-1 are to be drilled back to back in a program anticipated to be completed in mid-2016. Both SNE-2 and SNE-3 appraisal wells will be logged, cored and flow tested. FAR Limited is a partner in the project which is estimatedto...

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has cancelled bidding for new crude oil swap agreements and plans to directly sell crude oil to refiners as well as purchase refined oil products from them. NNPC had initially short-listed 44 companies for the swap agreements (OPAs), intended for 2016, but said most of them did not directly operate refineries. “Getting oil products from such...

The Kudu gas-to-power project in Namibia is anticipated to see the Final Investment Decision (FID) taken by mid-2016. The project is to play a critical role in meeting the country’s power demand. Ever since the project landed on the drawing board, the costs have risen dramatically, doubling to about $2.3 billion. The project will require gas from the offshore Kudu field being piped to a...

According to Forbes Africa, the richest man in francophone sub-Saharan Africa is the Cameroonian Baba AhmadouDanpullo whose fortune has been valued at 547 billion FCFA. Riches he obtained from his multiple investments in real-estate, telecom and agro-industry. Truly, it is common knowledge that the former truck driver now billionaire detains 30% of Nexttel’s (third mobile operator in the...