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In a last-ditch bid to hang on to the licence, Hyperdynamics is claiming its Fatala well was a discovery, despite initially announcing it had not encountered hydrocarbons. The licence was due to expire on 21 September unless a discovery was made. Nigeria’s South Atlantic Petroleum, which farmed in to the licence in March, has withdrawn, but Hyperdynamics said it would be seeking a two-year appraisal period. However the company, which struggled to find funding and partners to drill Fatala, is likely to find financing appraisal work a challenge.

US minnow Hyperdynamics faces an uncertain future following the failure of a second well offshore Guinea. The company said on 8 September that the Fatala well, which targeted a deep-water fan complex, had failed to find hydrocarbons.Under a one-year licence extension agreement with the government reached in September 2016, the licence was due to expire on 21 September 2017 unless a discovery was made. Hyperdynamics had hoped to be able to drill a follow-up well on the Bamboo prospect, but the company has struggled to raise the funds for Fatala.

Swiss-based Brahms Oil Refineries has awarded SNC-Lavalin a contract for front-end engineering design (FEED) for a 10,000 b/d oil refinery at the Guinean port of Kamsar to produce diesel, gasoline and jet A fuel for sale to the domestic market. The FEED will provide a cost estimate ahead of a final investment decision for the project expected in Q3 2017, and the contract has scope for development into an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) award, SNC-Lavalin said.

Feasibility studies for the 90MW Fomi dam project on the Niger River have been submitted to the Ministry of Mines and Geology and to President Alpha Condé by Yellow River Engineering Consulting Company director-general Yin Dewen. The project dates back to the colonial era (the site was discovered in 1922), and development will require $590m of financing, according to the feasibility studies.A source close to the project told African Energy that the main challenge was the dam’s impact on local communities, and its high cost relative to capacity was a consequence of efforts to minimise this.

As Hyperdynamics prepares to start drilling Guinea’s second offshore well, the government has announced that the country’s first offshore licensing round will open in October. Office Nationale du Pétrole chief executive Diakaria Koulibaly told the Oil & Gas Council’s NOC Assembly in Paris on 12 June that Guinea was hoping recent discoveries offshore Senegal and Mauritania would encourage interest. He said the round would be open for six months from October 2017, with awards expected by October 2018. Companies will be able to submit bids on all open blocks.

Hyperdynamics is preparing to drill a well on the Fatala prospect but concedes “it’s hard to see a path forward” if it fails to find hydrocarbons. “We’ve put everything into this one well, we’ve put all the risk factors we can into it, so we think this is a pretty good chance of success. If the well does not come in, it’s hard to see a path forward, but it’s a five to ten times upside if it does come in, so that’s the risk/reward,” president and chief executive Ray Leonard told the Oil Capital conference in London on 11 May.

Hyperdynamics and South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPetro) signed a farmout agreement on 30 March for the Nigerian company to take 50% in Hyperdynamics’ offshore licence, in exchange for paying half the costs of the upcoming Fatala well. SAPetro, chaired by former Nigerian defence minister Theophilus Danjuma, will also pay past costs of some $9m. The farmout will significantly reduce the cost to Hyperdynamics of the delayed Fatala well, which the US company must start drilling by 30 May.

Hyperdynamics lacks the cash to fund its well obligation and has yet to close a farm-out deal with South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPetro). President and chief executive Ray Leonard told a conference call with investors on 3 March that the company was ready to drill the deep-water Fatala well but lacked the necessary funds. With licence expiry looming in September, “the cash position has become critical” and the company is arranging bridge financing, he said.

A financing package for Alufer Mining’s Bel Air bauxite project has come as a welcome boost for a sector overshadowed by the Simandou affair and the aftermath of the 2014 Ebola crisis. Alufer has raised $90m of convertible debt and $35m of equity from a consortium of Resource Capital Funds, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Orion Mine Finance and existing shareholders, as well as $80m of senior debt from Orion. The funds will be used to develop the Bel Air bauxite mine through to first commercial production.

Houston-based Hyperdynamics says it has accepted a proposal from drilling contractor Pacific Drilling to use the Pacific Scirocco drillship instead of the Pacific Bora for the Fatala-1 well, due to spud in April. Financial terms under the contract are unchanged. “The Pacific Scirocco is equipped to drill in deeper water – up to 12,000 feet – and could handle either of the two optional follow-up fan wells that may be drilled if the Fatala-1 well is successful,” said Hyperdynamics president and chief executive Ray Leonard. The Pacific Scirocco has been working offshore Nigeria for Total for the last five years.

As the dry season reduces water flow at the Kaléta dam, power cuts have led to riots in the city of Kindia, where demonstrators in at least two districts built barricades and burned tyres to demand the restoration of power supply. The police intervened to restore calm but the city remains tense. Load shedding in Conakry has even affected the central business district of Kaloum.

Beny Steinmetz has been placed under house arrest in Israel amid an investigation into his BSG Resources’ acquisition of rights to the Simandou iron ore mining project.Israeli police detained Steinmetz on suspicion of bribery and money laundering. A court on 19 December released him to house arrest for two weeks on bail of 100m shekels ($26m). His Israeli and French passports were confiscated and he was barred from leaving Israel for 180 days.

Hyperdynamics has signed a letter of intent for Nigeria’s South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPetro) to take a 20% stake in the company’s offshore oil and gas concession where a well is due next year. The letter of intent, which is non-binding, calls for SAPetro to take a 20% participating interest in exchange for paying 40% of the costs of the upcoming Fatala well up to a $50m cap of predicted total well costs. Above that amount, SAPetro would pay its proportional 20% share.

While much of the world was distracted by Donald Trump’s election in the US, Rio Tinto announced on 9 November that it had suspended energy and minerals head Alan Davies and accepted the resignation of legal and regulatory affairs executive Debra Valentine after discovering $10.5m in payments to a French adviser to Guinean President Alpha Condé.Rio said it had launched an investigation and alerted regulators after becoming aware on 29 August of emails from 2011 that referred to contractual payments to an unidentified consultant relating to its Simandou iron ore project.

US minnow Hyperdynamics has reduced its licence area by 75% and will open a data room for the relinquished acreage as part of an agreement with the government to extend the licence for 12 months. President and chief executive Ray Leonard told the Oil Capital forum in London on 21 September the company would seek a new partner or equity funding to drill the Fatala well, on a deep-water fan prospect. Fatala has a projected spud date of April 2017 and is expected to cost $46m; Hyperdynamics would like to drill a second well, bringing the cost to $77m.