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The high global cost of oil and gas exploration has slowed the pace of work on some of the Gulf of Guinea’s smaller plays, and several blocks secured at the height of industry excitement about the region are now changing hands as the original licensees review their positions. Many of the newcomers are Australians, originally tempted into Africa’s east coast and now looking west. For a number of players,

Cegelec to expand grid at Arzew; Work starts at Kpone plant; Strategic energy study; Coal miner plans 500MW power plant; Higher tariffs; AFC backs power project; Mittal in deal with Coal of Africa; Miners complain of power shortages

The deals signed during President Vladimir Putin’s working visit to Libya, discussed below in African Energy view, said much about the fast-evolving shape of global gas markets and strategy, in a similar vein to Gazprom’s interest in Nigerian operations and the planned Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) to Algeria (AE 135/1).

Sonatrach has announced four new hydrocarbons finds, two made on its own account and two in association with Cyprus-registered, Paris-headquartered and Tunisian-controlled Medex Petroleum.

The management of Canadian minnow First Calgary Petroleums (FCP) has used a letter from Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil to postpone a shareholder vote to oust its chief executive. FCP’s only hydrocarbons asset

Chakib Khelil explains the mechanics of Algeria's seventh licensing round. IOCs adapt

Every country along the North African littoral from Morocco to Egypt has got at least one refinery project in planning or on the go.

IOCs and consumer governments are indulging in intense speculation about Gazprom’s Nigerian love-in, with indications that Moscow might also revive co-operation with Algeria and invest big in several other African gas plays.

Australia’s CityView Corporation says it has teamed up with “a

ALGERIA: Energy subsidies hamper WTO; ANGOLA/NIGERIA: Oil business PRI rates come down

Sonatrach has secured a revised deal with Norway’s StatoilHydro that underlines the Algerian state company’s determination to build up a much greater international profile by working in tandem with IOC partners, with a 1 March agreement to extend a liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply accord and give it access to a US east coast regasification terminal.

The African Union’s new energy arm is intended to help the continent present a more coherent message – and mobilise more resources – in the global energy fora that count, writes Jon Marks in Algiers.

Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil has considerably added to the complexity of the planned licensing round, to be run for the first time by regulator Agence Nationale pour la Valorisation des Ressources en Hydrocarbures (Alnaft), by announcing via a Financial Times interview that for some blocks at least bidders will be required to “swap assets” to gain access to attractive acreage (AE 131/17).

AfDB – first private equity investment in Maghreb; CADF $90m for four projects; US EX-IM Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee

International oil companies’ Algiers offices have instituted emergency measures to protect their staff following unattributed terrorist threats against them, setting the rumour mill into overdrive in the Algerian capital. But at the same time IOCs say they are determined that business should continue as usual, worried that a public stress on security issues could harm their already sensitive relations with the authorities.