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Calgary-based Chad player Griffiths Energy International has abandoned plans for a share listing. A letter dated 3 February from its lawyers Norton Rose asked Canada’s securities regulators to withdraw its preliminary prospectus, which was filed in November. Griffiths Energy signed three production-sharing contracts (PSCs) with the N’djamena government last year: the 2,744km2 Mangara/Badila PSC, which comprises the DOB and DOI blocks, the 22,206km2 Doseo/Borogop PSC, made up of the Doseo and Borogop blocks, and the 826km2 DOH PSC

Houston-based ERHC Energy has received formal government approval of its production-sharing contract signed in July for three blocks (AE 213/10).

Following an upturn in production since 2010, further efforts to revive exploration are bringing a new generation of independents into acreage including blocks relinquished by Doba field operator ExxonMobil. The latest company to sign a production-sharing contract (PSC) with the Chadian government is Houston-based ERHC Energy, which on 6 July signed PSCs for three blocks, including two permits adjacent to the Doba oilfield, which in 2010 produced an average 122,500 b/d.

The N’Djamena refinery, built by Chinese contractors, is to open on 27 June, petroleum minister Eugène Tabe N’Gaoulam told African Energy.

Law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel has announced that it assisted China’s Soluxe International on its $150m project to build the Soluxe International Industrial Zone – described as the “largest foreign investment project in Chad in recent years”

CHAD: Commission approves refinery project; NIGERIA: NLNG LPG, condensate tender; TANZANIA: Upgrading work for Dar port

CAMEROON: Foster Wheeler wins Sonara work; CHAD: Pipeline completed; NIGERIA: KBR refinery contract

Cover Energy AIM listing; Support for high-speed telecoms; World Bank lends $50m for infrastructure; China may develop Lamu deep-water port

There is much to learn from the often sorry experience of resource-rich countries, especially as governance activists and other lobbies mobilise to influence the prospects for building transparent industries in the newest West African energy frontiers – in the hope that, this time, they can implement oil and gas developments that bring real benefits to their host populations, rather than merely inflating the fortunes of predatory elites.

CHAD: Chinese funding deals signed for N’djamena refinery; ANGOLA: KBR wins new contract for Sonaref technology; ZAMBIA: Indeni to seek new partner

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is building a 311km pipeline to carry crude from the Ronier and Mimosa fields in the Chari-Baguirmi region south of the capital to N’djamena’s new refinery.

New find on Block 31 Sonangol and BP have announced an 18th discovery on ultra-deep Block 31 with the Oberon-1 well. Located in the southern part of the block some 4.3km north-east of the Dione discovery,the well was drilled in a water depth of 1,624metres, reaching a total depth of 3,622 metres. Test results confirmed the capacity of the reservoir to flow more than 5,000 b/d under production conditions.First oil from Morsa West Process system integrators DPS have announced the start of oil production from Sonangol’s shallow water Morsa West field. The marginal field development project was awarded to Angola Drilling.

ANGOLA: New find on Block 31; ANGOLA: First oil from Morsa West; ANGOLA: Total gives CGGVeritas 4D inversion project; CHAD: New find for CNPC; EGYPT: BG begins Phase V gas production from WDDM; EGYPT: East Mediterranean Gas in repricing deal; LIBYA: Petrobras drills in Area 18; MOROCCO: New gas find for Circle; NIGERIA: Oando wins swamp drilling contract; NIGERIA: Acergy to revamp Mobil platforms

Total and its partners have contracted CGGVeritas for a seismic reservoir characterisation project involving the inversion of 4D seismic data covering the Dalia,Rosa,Girassol and Jasmine fields. CGGVeritas subsidiary Hampson-Russell Software & Services will undertake the inversion work. “Having proved this technology in the North Sea, this is an important opportunity to apply it inWest Africa,” said Philippe Doyen,Vice President, R&D, Hampson-Russell Services. “With the increasing number of 4D vintages available over producing fields, global4D inversion is better constrained and yields results that are more readily interpretable in terms of production effects.

Chad and Cameroon have set up a technical committee to carry out their long-mooted electrical interconnection project.