(HornTrade) – PetroTrans, a Chinese oil and gas producer could conclude preliminary negotiations with Somaliland for the extension of the key port of Berbera by the end of this year, but has scrapped plans to build a liquefied natural gas facility.

Philip Hirschler, a legal adviser for PetroTrans, said from London the firm planned to extend Berbera port’s container and mineral export services following an agreement it signed with the government of the breakaway enclave of Somalia last August. Read the rest of this entry »

(Horntrade) – South Sudan said Wednesday that it was in talks with a pipeline construction company based in Texas that would start constructing a pipeline in six months, according to the News Agency of South Sudan.

The news agency report, posted on the South Sudan government website, did not name the company. Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, spokesman for South Sudan, also said that South Sudan had signed a memorandum of understand with Ethiopia to construct an oil pipeline passing through Djibouti, the news agency reported. Read the rest of this entry »

(Horntrade) – The former minister of petroleum in the then government of national unity in Khartoum on Saturday called for a convention over oil crisis among members of South Sudan’s ruling party.

Lual Deng said the convention would provide members of the ruling Sudan people Liberation Movement (SPLM) with “expertise” in various fields, particularly those with “credible economic and management backgrounds”, to share views about how the country can cope with the current economic challenges befalling the world’s newest nation.

South Sudan officially seceded from Sudan in July 2011 after a referendum held earlier the same year showed an overwhelming majority in favor of independence from the North. Read the rest of this entry »

HornTrade – The Sh75 billion Lake Turkana Wind Power consortium—the largest single private investment in Kenya’s history — will earn Sh26 billion (€200 million) over its lifespan, the sponsors have said.

The plant has been registered with the United Nations Framework Convention and the income will be shared with the government and the community.

It is expected to start producing 50 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the last quarter of next year and reach full production capacity of 300 MW three years later. Read the rest of this entry »

(HornTrade) – The Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise awarded a 29.5 million US dollar contract to Huyton Inc Company. The contract is for the supply of coal to realize Ethiopia’s plan to use coal as fuel in cement factories.

The contract to be signed next week is for the import of a minimum of 650,000 tons of coal every month beginning from next month, for one year.

Three companies responded to the invitation to bid for the supply of coal. The companies were Wibyan, (Indonesian company), HMS Bergbau (German Company) and Huyton. Read the rest of this entry »

(HornTrade) – Djibouti City: Djibouti’s government said it plans to build a 20-megawatt wind farm and a desalination plant within the next two years in a 20 billion-Djiboutian-franc (Dh415 million) project that will be financed by the European Union.

The power plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2013 and will power the water facility that is scheduled to be commissioned in 2014, Almis Mohammad Abdullah, head of external financing in the Economy, Finance, Industry and Planning Ministry, said after talks with an EU delegation on Wednesday in Djibouti City, the capital. Read the rest of this entry »

(HornTrade) – The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) plans to construct six wind power projects and one Geo Thermal Power Plant, according to Capital. The new projects will have a capacity of 1,015 Mega Watts (MW) power.

The project includes the 300 MW Ayisha Wind Farm located in the Eastern part of the country, near the border with Djibouti, the 100 MW Debre Birhan Wind Farm situated about 120 kms north of Addis Ababa, the 100 MW Assela Wind Power  Project,  125 km South East of Addis, and the 153 MW Adama II Wind Power Project. Read the rest of this entry »

(HornTrade) – The oil company Total was sentenced to 200 million euros in damages and four million euro fine by a court of Djibouti in a matter of oil pollution of the harbor. Another company was also convicted, it is Oil Libya.

Oil leaks are discovered in 1997 during expansion of the port of Djibouti. These leaks come from an old network of pipelines that date from the 1940s.
Read the rest of this entry »

(HornTrade) – Ethiopia is to sign an agreement with Djibouti next month for the use of its Port to ship in and unload coal that the Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) plans to import to be used as fuel for cement factories.

Yigzaw Mekonnen, director general of EPE and Mekonnen Abera, head of market research and business promotion of the Ethiopian Shipping & Transit Services Enterprise, (EMTSE) were in Djibouti last week discussing the terms of the deal with Aboubaker Omar Hadi, the chairman of the Port. Read the rest of this entry »

(HornTrade) – Djibouti plans to spend $19.6 million over the next two years exploring for geothermal-power sources as the Horn of Africa nation seeks to address an electricity shortage, Energy Minister Ahmed Fouad Ay said.

The project will be funded by the Global Environment Facility, an independent organization that provides grants to developing countries, as well as the World Bank and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Ay told reporters yesterday in Djibouti City, the capital. Drilling is expected to be completed by 2013, while the country intends to develop a 56- megawatt geothermal power plant by 2018, he said.

“The commissioning of a geothermal power-plant will help Djibouti switch to green energy in less than a decade,” Finance Minister Ilyas Dawaleh Moussa said at the briefing. Read the rest of this entry »