Blog

Producción y mercados energéticos 25/02/19

Latest Energy News

25 February 2019

TOP STORY: Zambia and Zimbabwe shortlist 3 groups for 2.4 GW Batoka hydro project The Zambezi River Authority’s Council of Ministers, which entails the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe, has shortlisted three developers for the construction of the 2,400 MW Batoka Gorge hydropower plant project, which will be built a few kilometers downstream Victoria Falls on the Zambezi river. The first shortlisted consortium includes General Electric and Power Construction Corporation of China, while the second one includes three Chinese companies, namely China Three Gorges Corporation, China International and Water Electric Corporation and China Gezhouba Group. Eventually, the Italian engineering company Salini Impregilo will also bid for the project. The next steps include a request for proposals (RfP), which will be launched by April 2019 and the appointment of the winning bidder in September 2019.. The construction will be schemed on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) financing model. Upon completion, the US$5.2bn project will supply power to Zambia and Zimbabwe and will be linked to the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP). Zimbabwe and Zambia will share the produced electricity equally.

Policy & Regulatory European Commission opens investigation of UK Capacity Market scheme The European Commission has started an in-depth investigation procedure to determine whether the support scheme establishing a capacity market in the United Kingdom (UK) is in line with the European Union (EU) State aid rules. This move comes in the wake of the EU General Court’s cancellation of a previous Commission decision approving the scheme. Read more Energy Markets Sonatrach announces first gas production at Touat project (Algeria) Algerian national oil and gas company Sonatrach and its partner Neptune Energy have announced the startup of the Touat natural gas project in Adrar, in south-western Algeria.. The project was initially expected to come onstream in 2017 but has been delayed. It will now gradually ramp up its production and will start exports by mid-2019. Read more Forecasts Colombia plans to increase its domestic reserve base by 1 Gbl The Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Hydrocarbons Agency (Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos) of Colombia have issued plans to boost the domestic crude oil reserves by 1 Gbl and to auction 20 possible production areas shortly. Read more Technology US utility APS plans to install 850 MW of electricity storage by 2025 US power utility Arizona Public Service (APS) has unveiled plans to install 850 MW of electricity storage by 2025, including 450 MW that will come onstream by 2021 and an additional 400 MW slated for commissioning by 2025. It also expects to install at least 100 MW of new solar generation capacity by this date. Read more Infrastructure & Investments FERC approves construction of Calcasieu Pass LNG project (US) The United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has awarded a regulatory permit to the project company Venture Global LNG for the construction and operation of the 10 Mt/year Calcasieu Pass LNG export project in Louisiana (United States). In order to avoid any further delays, the FERC applied a new approach for consideration of direct greenhouse gas emissions from LNG projects. Read more Saudi Aramco will join a 300,000 bbl/d refining project in Panjin (China) State-run oil and gas company Saudi Aramco has signed an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) with the Chinese company Norinco (China North Industries Corporation) and Panjin Sincen to jointly develop a US$10bn refining and petrochemical complex in the city of Panjin, in Liaoning (northern China). Saudi Aramco will own 35% of the newly formed Huajin Aramco Petrochemical company,… Read more Egypt-Sudan power interconnection project reaches new milestone State-run Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and the German engineering company Siemens have completed the construction of the Toshka 220 kV air-insulated substation, a significant move forward for the realisation of the upcoming Egypt-Sudan power interconnection project. Read more