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As Ophir Energy weighs options for development of its Block R gas, the company has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Petrofac to act as development operator up to the final investment decision. This role is expected to include preparing and issuing a field development plan for the project, and co-ordinating the upstream and midstream elements. Ophir has also held discussions with a number of floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessel providers. The company said it had received several proposals, a number of which have been shortlisted for further assessment with non-binding letters of intent signed on 20 February in Singapore.

Noble Energy is expected to submit a plan of development this year for the Diega accumulation on Block I. Partner PA Resources said Diega was expected to be developed as a subsea tieback to the Aseng floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, targeting first oil in 2016. PA Resources said results of a long-term drill stem test had been positive. The I-8ST sidetrack well tested for one month at constrained rates of up to 7,300 b/d of oil, and has been suspended for re-use as a future production well. Production from the Alen field, which is also tied back to the Aseng FPSO, began in July 2013.

Swiss oil trader Gunvor Group has increased its stake in Sweden’s PA Resources to 49.96% from 9.9%, following a rights issue in Q3 which raised SEK891m ($140m). Lorito Holdings, owned by the Lundin family, now has 9.9%. PA Resources, which has acreage in Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia, as well as the North Sea, said this year it had run into financial difficulties. As part of a board and management shake-up, former Addax Petroleum new ventures manager Philippe Probst stepped in as interim chief executive in May, then Acorn Oil & Gas and Fairfield Energy founder Mark McAllister was appointed in September to replace him (AE 256/13).

Operator Noble Energy has begun production from the Alen field on blocks O and I. Partner PA Resources said gas and condensate production had increased over recent weeks as commissioning of wells and facilities continued towards full operations later in Q3.

As memories of its violent past and episodes such as the ‘Wonga coup’ recede, and with the joint hosting of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations deemed generally to be positive, Equatorial Guinea is appearing on lists of sub-Saharan African success stories, its oil and gas-fuelled GDP producing graphs showing sustained growth, and propelling it to the rank of middle-income country. An African Development Bank (AfDB) Country Strategy Paper (CSP) released on 18 July reminds us that Equatorial Guinea has sub-Saharan Africa’s highest per capita income and the potential to emerge as a regional energy hub, generating electricity from hydropower, as well as producing gas for local processing – pioneered by the Atlantic Methanol Company plant – and export, and supplying crude to US and other buyers.

A French court in late April ruled that NGO the Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development did not libel President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in a 2009 report. The report, entitled ‘Biens mal acquis, à qui profite le crime?’ said that Obiang and ten family members had laundered about $26.5m in property deals via an account at Santander bank Madrid between 2000 and 2003. The latest court ruling follows a lower court decision that the report’s allegations were covered by the right to free speech.

The government has formally ratified eight new block awards signed at a ceremony in December. Block W, north of the Ceiba field, will be operated by the US’ Murphy Oil with 45%, Vanco Exploration successor PanAtlantic Energy with 35%, and the state GEPetrol with a carried 20% interest. A 3D seismic programme will begin in late 2013 over the block, which covers 2,254km2 in water depths of 1,500 to 2,100 metres.

Operator Noble Energy has made an oil discovery with the Carla South exploration well in Block I. Partner PA Resources said the well had reached a total measured depth of 3,660 metres, encountering ten metres vertical thickness of net oil pay in good quality sandstones at the target level. Following completion of logging operations, the well is being side-tracked to an adjacent target.

Former Addax Petroleum new ventures manager Philippe Probst has been named as interim chief executive of Sweden’s PA Resources as part of a wider board and management shake-up. The Stockholm-based company has acreage in Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea and Republic of Congo. “It is well known that PA Resources has been in a vulnerable financial situation for some time,” the company said in a statement.

Noble Energy spudded the I-7 exploration well on the Carla South exploration prospect in Block I in late March, using the Atwood Hunter semi-submersible drilling rig. Partner PA Resources said the Carla South prospect was on trend with the Carla North discovery recently appraised in Block O to the north of Block I. The target is Tertiary sandstones of similar age to those in Carla North, and the well is expected to take around 25 days to reach total depth, with plans for a subsequent sidetrack of similar duration.

Deep-water explorer Ophir Energy is raising £553m ($826m) through a share placing and rights issue to fund a programme of ten to 15 wells this year targeting 1.3bn boe of resources. The London Stock Exchange-listed company’s extensive acreage holdings have started to deliver results, particularly in Tanzania, where it has discovered significant offshore gas reserves in partnership with BG Group, but also offshore Equatorial Guinea, where it is looking for a partner to bring a string of gas discoveries into production.

The Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy signed eight new production-sharing contracts (PSCs) at a ceremony in Malabo on 15 December. Several of the blocks went to companies already active in the region, but there were also a number of new players, several of them based in Hong Kong. Block W offshore Rio Muni went to Murphy Equatorial Guinea Oil Company as operator, with Vanco Energy Company’s successor Pan Atlantic Oil and Gas Ltd and state oil company GEPetrol as partners.

State power utility Sociedade de Electricidade de Guinea Ecuatorial inaugurated a 120MW hydro plant in October on the Rio Muni mainland. The Djibloho plant, built by China’s Sinohydro on the Wele River, consists of four 30MW Francis turbines and cost $257m, fully funded by the state.

The government is expected to decide this year on a mooted second train for Equatorial Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (EGLNG)’s plant.

Ophir Energy has made another gas discovery on Block R as it seeks to prove up gas reserves for a planned second production train at the Equatorial Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas plant.