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The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) agreed on 6 June to lift the suspension of Madagascar and reinstate its status as a candidate country. The suspension has been in effect since 25 October 2011 following a coup d’état in January 2009. Elections were held in December 2013, and President Hery Rajaonarimampianina took office on 25 January 2014, forming a new government in April. The African Union, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have all resumed cooperation with Madagascar.

Madagascar Oil has declared its Tsimiroro discovery on Block 3104 commercial and plans to trial sales of its heavy crude to supply local power plants (AE 275/13). The London-listed company has 180 days from 8 May to submit a field development plan to state resource company Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Stratégiques (Omnis) for approval. A management committee with members from Madagascar Oil and Omnis will then decide whether the discovery could be commercially exploitable, and Omnis will apply for a presidential decree for a mining title to cover an initial 25-year exploitation period.

International oil companies (IOCs) have needed little convincing to return following presidential and parliamentary elections, President Héry Rajaonarimampianina told African Energy in Brussels on 3 April. Following a second round of elections in January, “IOCs immediately returned… we didn’t need to contact them”, he said. In return, the new government “committed to providing security”, so that IOCs who have suspended work, declaring force majeure as the political situation deteriorated, “can resume their activities”. ExxonMobil and Sterling Energy are expected to resume offshore exploration; their licences, under force majeure, were extended in November 2013, and they have since been preparing for a return. BG Group has said it hopes to resume drilling.

The need to maintain supplies of oil and gas in the face of growing competition from new players, and pressure to generate profits during a period when downstream margins are lacklustre, has led to an upsurge in activity by the majors in frontier areas like Benin, South Africa, Kenya and Madagascar, which were previously seen as the territory of more nimble independents. Total’s secretary general Africa Abiodun Afolabi told Global Pacific & Partners’ Africa Upstream conference in Cape Town on 27 November that the French major planned exploration drilling in five countries in 2014.

ExxonMobil is resuming exploration on its three offshore licences following the approval of extensions to its production sharing contracts. The company said on 6 November that it had received decrees formalising the extensions that were signed on 17 July by President Andry Rajoelina, and its subsidiaries intended “to resume exploration work and environmental assessments for shore-based and offshore operations in preparation for deep-water drilling”. Partner Sterling Energy said on 14 November that a 1,363km 2D seismic programme was under way on the Ampasindava block. “The programme is designed to provide improved control over the large Sifaka prospect as well as to mature additio

Nigeria’s South Atlantic Petroleum has given Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services a contract to acquire more than 9,000km2 of 3D seismic in the central Mozambique Channel. The Ramform Sterling vessel will acquire more than 7,000km2 in the Juan de Nova permit, a French overseas territory, and more than 2,000km2 in Madagascar’s Belo Profond licence.

Djibouti player Oyster Oil and Gas has agreed a cash and shares deal to buy Candax Energy’s 10% interest in Afren’s onshore Block 1101. Oyster chief executive Michael Wood, who founded Candax in 2004, said: “The Oyster team has a considerable understanding of Block 1101, having been responsible for the original signing of the production-sharing contract with the government of Madagascar in 2006.”

Hong Kong-listed Hoifu Energy Group has acquired the rights to Block 2101 by buying Madagascar Northern Petroleum Company. The British Virgin Islands-registered company was awarded the block in October 2006 but no exploration has been carried out.

Alternative Investment Market-listed Tower Resources has acquired a 20% carried interest in the onshore Marovoay Block 2102 by buying private UK explorer Wilton Petroleum. Operator Ophir Energy plans a well on the block by mid-2014 targeting the Anjohibe oil prospect. 


The African Development Bank (AfDB) Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa has approved a $1m grant to finalise pre-investment activities for a hybrid renewable energy project in Nosy Be Island. The grant will help to finance feasibility studies for a combination of hydro, wind and solar technologies, technical assistance to the national power utility, and the transactions advisory for a public-private partnership.

Chinese seismic company BGP is acquiring 2D seismic in the Morondava Basin using the BGP Challenger vessel. The company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, said the new 13,300km long offset survey was adjacent to recent giant gas discoveries in Mozambique and Tanzania.

Madagascar Oil has carried out a share placing and open offer through London-based natural resources investment bank GMP Securities Europe to raise £49.5m ($78.4m) at 18p/share. The offering is fully underwritten by existing shareholders.

Afren plc has been preoccupied with development of the Ebok and Okwok fields in Nigeria, where it is producing 42,000 b/d – roughly half of Tullow Oil’s production across the continent. But the London Stock Exchange-listed company has a big programme of exploration for 2013.

With a new transitional government in place, talks are making progress with the state Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Stratégiques (Omnis) on a resumption of exploration work in Sterling Energy’s offshore acreage, according to the AIM-listed company’s exploration director Philip Frank.

Political troubles have significantly slowed oil exploration, but Madagascar Oil is about to start production of heavy oil from its Tsimiroro pilot steam flood project. Chief operating officer Mark Weller told Global Pacific & Partners’ 30 October Africa Independents’ Forum that if all went according to plan, the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM)-listed company hoped to reach peak production of 370,000 b/d within 15 years. This would put Madagascar among Africa’s top five oil producers.