[Ayame]

The Dance Of The Crab
(4/20/2007)

On most nights, we appear to be back in the early days of the firmament, when it was all pitch-dark, and only God’s spirit was moving over the waters.

With sitting and sleeping rooms usually stuffy and unbearably warm, due to the power cuts, we often only manage a snooze before dawn. We, however, get a fantastic compensation for the previous night’s discomfort when we report for work in the morning: We get paid for doing nothing. Absolutely nothing, Jomo.

Every day hundreds of thousands of PCs with dead screens sit atop office tables, advanced technological tools for information processing, rapid communication and fast transaction of business, which have suddenly been rendered useless by the energy crisis.

article

[aldente]

Ghana..
What about the Volta Dam, any explanation for the power outs?

[Ayame]

Looks like it's due to lack of rain.

Ghana's Energy Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, who signed the agreement, together with Sinohydro Chairman Fan Juxiang, said the project was crucial to augment the country's power production, which is currently in crisis.

Ghana's power shortfall has deepened since August last year, resulting in a national load shedding which has hindered the operation of bulk power users including the mines.

Authorities have blamed the current power crisis on low levels of water in the major eastern Akosombo Dam due to unfavorable rainfall pattern

article

[AirlinePilot]

Double whammy, Olduvai gorge and global climate change all rolled into one. We wil pray for you. I mean that.

[highlander]

Thanks for the link to the article. It was a good read! I wonder what our grid will work like after 20 years due to drought, peak oil and peak gas.

[copious.abundance]

I've been planning to start this thread for a while, and with the following news item out today I figured now might be a good time to get it going.

As some of you know, there have been a couple large oil discoveries off the coast of Ghana, near the Ivory Coast border. There are also large prospects elsewhere off the coast of Ghana as well as in the IC, to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and possibly all the up to Morocco.

I think I read somewhere that as you get towards Mauritania, Western Sahara and Morocco the prospects could be more gas prone, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, here's the news out today on a significant discovery off the coast of Sierra Leone.

>>> LINK <<<

Anadarko details find off Sierra Leone
Sep 16, 2009
Alan Petzet , OGJ Chief Editor-Exploration

HOUSTON, Sept. 16 -- The 45 ft of net hydrocarbon pay cut by an Anadarko Petroleum Corp.-operated deepwater exploratory well off remote Sierra Leone was only part of a “tremendous amount” of reservoir-quality rock the well penetrated, company officials said.

Anadarko and partners were still logging the well Sept. 16, had not yet seen analyses of hydrocarbons recovered to surface by a modular formation dynamics test (MDT) tool, and were still receiving 3D seismic shot off Liberia to the east. The discovery is a technical success and could be highly commercial, they said.

Anchoring a conference call were Anadarko’s Al Walker, chief operating officer; Bob Daniels, senior vice-president, worldwide exploration; and Frank Patterson, vice-president, exploration.

All information from the well “is very positive for the exploration effort in the Liberian and Ivorian basins,” including fan systems, petroleum system, thermal maturity, and migration, said Daniels. The well proved the fan systems get better coming off the craton.

In the Venus well Anadarko saw good reservoir quality in numerous sands and shows in numerous sands. Nine wells previously were drilled on the shelf off Sierra Leone, and Venus validated the geological parameters of the depositional model that are going to help the company and its partners set up the rest of the play, they said.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Here's Anadarko's presentation out today on the discovery. Map on page 3 shows several Jubilee-sized prospects straddling the Liberia-Sierra Leone border

>>> PDF, not too big <<<

In case anyone wants to see where this is.

[Plantagenet]

Thanks OF2.

In another 10 years or so when it reaches production that deepwater oil will come in handy, I suspect.

[copious.abundance]

This discovery even had a large story on pg. 2 of the B section of today's Wall Street Journal.

And here's another one in today's Financial Times.

>>> Financial Times <<<

Oil groups confirm big find
By Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent
Published: September 17 2009 03:00 | Last updated: September 17 2009 03:00

Anadarko, the US oil group, and partners Woodside of Australia, Repsol of Spain and Tullow Oil of the UK, yesterday confirmed that they had found a new offshore oil region from Sierra Leone to Ghana in which they expect to discover more huge oil fields in the next five years.

The announcement was made based on positive drilling results from the Venus well off the coast of Sierra Leone, 1,100km from Ghana's Jubilee field, Africa's largest deep-water field.

"The chance of there being at least one more Jubilee-sized field along the coast between Ghana and Sierra Leone has greatly increased," said Aidan Heavey, Tullow chief executive.

The Jubilee field, discovered in 2007, holds up to 2bn barrels of oil.

[...]

The results of the drilling, one of the most closely watched in the industry, suggests a large field. But much more important is the area it opens up.

Bob Daniels, head of Anadarko exploration, said: "The Venus discovery confirms the existence of an active petroleum system in the basin and enhances the prospectivity of our vast West Africa acreage."

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Now the Big Boys are interested in this area.

>>> Exxon’s $4 Billion Bet on Ghana’s Jubilee Oil Field <<<

[copious.abundance]

This is of extreme significance. More later.

>>> LINK <<<

Dana to buy stake in concession off Guinea
Oct 19, 2009
Uchenna Izundu
OGJ International Editor

LONDON, Oct. 19 -- Dana Petroleum PLC is to gain a 23% interest in the Hyperdynamics concession off Guinea under an exclusive letter of intent (LOI) signed with Hyperdynamics Corp., Sugar Land, Tex.

The partners hope a binding agreement will be signed by yearend for the acreage, which covers 80,000 sq km. Hyperdynamics hopes to bring another partner into the concession.

“Dana has the option to negotiate for an additional interest of up to a further 27% (to give Dana a total of 50% interest) if Hyperdynamics does not sign a letter of intent with such a company by Nov. 30,” said Dana.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Some technical stuff, for geology nerds:
http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/docum ... flinch.pdf

[copious.abundance]

We now have oil off the coast of Sierra Leone, too.

LINK

NOVEMBER 15, 2010, 5:56 A.M. ET
Anadarko Discovery Boosts Prospects Of New W Africa Oil Basin
By James Herron

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Anadarko Corp.'s (APC) second oil discovery offshore Sierra Leone further demonstrates that a new stretch of the West African coast has the potential to become a productive oil basin, the company and its partners said Monday.

"The Mercury well demonstrates that the stratigraphic trapping systems we've identified are working, and that the petroleum system is generating high-quality oil," said Anadarko's Senior Vice President for Worldwide Exploration Bob Daniels. "These results continue to build momentum in the basin and enhance our confidence."

"This is a large oil play with significant potential for future offshore exploration in West Africa," said a spokesman for Repsol YPF (REP), one of Anadarko's partners in the well.

Andarko and its partners in the Mercury well, Repsol and Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN), are following a trail of geological structures called stratigraphic traps offshore Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Tullow says there are numerous undrilled prospects in this region that could be of similar size to its 1.5 billion barrel Jubilee field offshore Ghana.

[...]

[sparky]

.
Offshore west Africa is a proven oil province Total has been active there for years
It is going to be interesting to see how far north it extend
New provinces are Greenland and the Antarctic down from the Falklands ,
tantalinzing prospects but It's not going to be cheap oil

[deltron3030]

Just wondering how everyone feels about the new solar energy plant being designed? I am investigating the Nzema project so would appreciate peoples opinions if anybody has the time.
Blue Energy as a company usually provides successful solutions to renewable energy as far as im aware, but one solar plant to power over 100,000 homes seems a little ambitious to me..
thanks for reading

[Tanada]

Published: Dec. 4, 2012 at 6:47 PM
Advertisement

LONDON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A British firm says it plans to build a solar power plant in Africa that will provide electricity to more than 100,000 home and be the biggest on the continent.

Renewable energy investment company Blue Energy said construction of the Nzema project in Ghana is due to start within 12 months and will cost $400 million.

It will be the most ambitious of dozens of photovoltaic power plants being considered across Africa, an industry analyst said.

"It is the biggest single project that's going ahead at the moment," Ash Sharma at IMS Research told BBC News. "It is not the biggest in the world, but if it goes ahead it will be the biggest in Africa."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Technol ... z2EBx0ea24

Sounds promising, but I want it to actually be built before I take it at face value.

[jjohnson243]

Any update on this?

[Subjectivist]

A 20 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) project developed by the Chinese firm Beijing Xiaocheng Company (a subsidiary of Beijing Fuxing Xiao-Cheng Electronic) was recently connected to the grid in Ghana, according to recent reports.

The newly connected solar PV project represents the largest yet connected to the Ghanian grid, and also the largest PV installation in the African nation to date.

It’s worth noting here that the development costs of the project were fronted directly by the Chinese firm — all $30 million of the project costs were provided by Beijing Xiaocheng Company (BXC). The move thus represents another example of the increasingly close relationship between many Chinese firms and African nations. Notably, Ghana is currently in the midst of something of an “energy crisis” — further increasing the importance of the new project.

The new project is many times larger than the country’s previously largest solar PV project — a 2 MW project — and is located around 70 kilometers from the country’s capital, on a 100-acre project site.

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/04/17/gh ... -the-grid/

[cephalotus]

20MW is nothing special. We had larger ones 10 years ago...

The 1GW solar power plant in India is more spectacular, imho:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/new ... 670458.ece