Energy

Solar energy has played a secondary role to wind power within Egypt’s renewables strategy for some time, despite the nation’s obvious advantages in terms of abundant sunlight and large tracts of undeveloped land. In 2014, however, brought a number of clear indicators that suggest that solar power remains very much front and centre in the government’s vision for the energy...

Over the course of 2014 Egypt’s energy sector has seen some welcome developments. The announcement of a debt-repayment programme for funds owed to international oil companies (IOCs) has restored confidence in the upstream segment and brought pledges of increased investment from larger operators such as the UK’s BP.

With some of the largest reserves of natural gas on the continent and a robust long-term upstream outlook, Egypt’s natural gas industry has made a significant turnaround by switching from exporting to importing. In the first decade of this century, Egypt went about exploiting its gas resource with great success, doubling production between 2000 and 2006. However, after a peak...

Thanks to their lengthy development cycles, Egypt’s oil and gas fields have continued to attract foreign investment steadily over the past three years, in spite of the broader instability in the country. The reserves remain extensive enough to ensure continued interest in them for years to come. Nevertheless, there has been a plateau in production levels and, due to rising...

With an estimated 3.5% of global coal reserves, South Africa has traditionally benefitted from an ample supply of cheap fuel. It has the fifth most energy-intensive economy in the world, accounting for 30% of total power consumption in Africa. South Africa generates 94% of its electricity from coal. BP estimates that its coal reserves will last for at least another century at...

One of the boldest moves outlined in South Africa’s longterm energy strategy is a major nuclear expansion programme, originally proposed in the 20-year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) published in 2010. The original IRP calls for the construction of an additional 9600 MW of nuclear baseload generation capacity by 2029, equivalent to 23% of projected total energy demand, which...