Page 9 - AfrElec Week 48

AfrElec GENERATION AfrElec
the quarter and that the project was now 96% complete. Work remains ongoing to install the living quarters on the platform as well as rig commissioning.
Noble and local partner Delek Drilling stated in September that the platforms that would be utilised to develop Leviathan had set sail for the Israeli o shore from Texas.
Tshuva will be hoping that Leviathan Gas will begin owing ahead of his departure to ensure his legacy, having played a signi cant role in the birth of a major gas industry in Israel.
From Leviathan, Noble anticipates selling an average of 22.66mn cubic metres per day of gas in 2020, with output being piped by two 120-km lines to the mainland. At that point, it will join
the Israel Natural Gas Lines (INGL) network. e US rm also recently completed a deal to acquire a 39% stake in East Mediterranean Gas (EMG), the owner of the EMG pipeline, for
$185mn.
The 90-km conduit connects the gas net-
works of Israel and Egypt, and had been used in a controversial and opaque three-way deal that saw Egyptian gas supplied to Israel, but the facility su ered repeated attacks in the wake of e 2011 revolution and the deal was unilater- ally terminated by Cairo the following year as a domestic shortage loomed.
Noble said it intended to use the line to ful l existing gas contracts with ows from Leviathan and Tamar to Egypt.™
POLICY
Egypt’s new power plants
to save the country $800mn
per year in 3 years
Egypt will save EGP13bn ($804mnmillion) in energy consumption annually from three power plants co-built by Siemens in three years, Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker said.
e three state-owned plants, which were inaugurated in mid-2018, saved the country EGP7.3bn ($451mn) in the 2018/2019 scal year which ended on 30 June, the minister said in live TV comments on Tuesday.
e gure is expected to reach EGP12.8bn annually in 2022 and up to EGP16bn when
NEWS IN BRIEF
they operate at full capacity, which means retrieving the project cost in 5-7 years, the minister added during an inauguration ceremony of a number of projects.
Egypt is considering o ers from foreign companies to take over the three 14.4GW facilities, with the country’s new sovereign wealth fund planning to acquire a stake of about 30% and international investors holding the rest.
Egypt has spent billions of pounds to develop its electricity network as the country aims to be a major international hub for electricity transmission and power trade.
Egypt has signed a deal with Cyprus and Greece to link the electricity grids of the three countries with the rest of Europe. It is working on linking its power grid with Sudan and is planning carry out similar projects with Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
PERFORMANCE
Eskom projected to make a full-year loss of R20bn
Eskom has that it expects to make a full-year loss of ZAR20bn ($1.4bn). is is despite
a ra of government bailouts having been awarded to the utility into 2022.
Eskom is saddled with more than ZAR450bn ($31bn) in debt, with the Treasury and the International Monetary Fund labelling the power utility as the largest risk
to SA.
For the six months ended September, Eskom reported a seemingly better set of results than it did in July, when it reported
a record loss of ZAR21bn ($1.43bn) for the year ended March 2019. Its interim pro ts for the period more than doubled to ZAR1.3bn ($89mn) compared with 2018.
At its interim results presentation, Eskom chair and acting CEO Jabu Mabuza warned there were a number of factors that would come into play in the second half of the nancial year, and the utility was expected to make another loss of about ZAR20bn ($1.4bn) for the 2019/2020 nancial year, following
its record loss of ZAR21bn ($1.43bn) in 2018/2019.
In the second half of Eskom’s nancial year, sales are lower because of the warmer weather. Revenues are also lower because the winter tari s fall away during this time. A 7% wage increase for employees will also be re ected in the second half of the year.
Eskom also highlighted the persistent issue of municipal debt, now at ZAR25bn ($1.7bn),
Week 48 05•December•2019
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