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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.

Qatar Petroleum has reached a farm-in agreement with Chevron Morocco Exploration giving it a 30% share in three deep-water offshore leases. Under the agreement, which has been approved by the Moroccan government, Chevron will retain a 45% interest and continue as operator. The state Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) will continue to have a 25% interest. The three offshore areas are Cap Rhir Deep, Cap Cantin Deep and Cap Walidia Deep, located 100-200km west and north-west of Agadir.

Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) shareholders voted on 13 January to approve the sale of 80% in AAOG Congo to London-listed Zenith Energy. Zenith also entered into a term sheet for a put and call option agreement over the remaining 20%, depending on the level of production from the Tilapia oil field. AAOG Congo, the former Petro Kouilou, has a 56% interest in the field.

Mubadala Petroleum has followed up its farm-in to Eni’s Zohr development by agreeing to take a 20% interest in the Nour concession in the North Sinai Offshore Area, where an exploration well is under way. Mubadala entered Egypt earlier this year by acquiring a 10% stake in Eni’s Shorouk concession, while Eni only acquired the Nour licence in August.

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.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy and the US’ Titan Resources Corporation, owned by Nelson ‘Bunker’ Hunt, have signed two production-sharing agreements covering acreage in the Ogaden and Abay basins, which were offered in an open tender earlier this year (AE 141/18).

Royal Dutch Shell has confirmed the appointment of Osagie Okunbor as managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, with effect from 1 March. He will replace Mutiu Sunmonu, who is retiring. Okunbor, who will also serve as country chair of Shell companies in Nigeria, is presently a senior adviser for Shell’s upstream international operations business in The Hague, and has previously worked as vice-president human resources for Shell Upstream’s business in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as vice-president infrastructure & logistics at Shell Nigeria.

IOCs and local corporates are getting to grips with a complex new law on Angolanisation, which puts pressure on companies to employ local contractors and staff, in senior roles

Azurite disappointment; Oando swamp rig for Shell; Total starts work on Ofon Phase 2; Shell wins Orange Basin right; Third time lucky for Tower?

Kent Watts, former chairman of Guinea explorer Hyperdynamics, has brought in an ex-colleague as a partner on his new Namibia venture. Watts’ Hydrocarb Energy Corporation, which has four blocks in northern Namibia’s Owambo Basin along the edge of the Etosha game reserve, has farmed out 39% to Duma Energy Corporation.

Bill Brumbaugh’s Swiss Oil Holdings International has given up Lamu blocks L4

South Africa’s offshore potential has seen an upsurge of interest following recent success in Mozambique, with significant new acreage licensed and the pace of exploration speeding up, writes Thalia Griffiths in Cape Town

Libya’s oil and gas authorities now say their promised licensing round will launch in Q1 2014 at the earliest. While this has been interpreted in some quarters as a delay, it will require rapid progress on the drafting of a new hydrocarbons law and a model exploration and production-sharing agreement over the next six months. Speaking at an FDI Libya round table event in London on 18 June, deputy oil and gas minister Omar Shakmak said that the round would not be announced until year-end, meaning that it could take place early next year.

Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines has signed a reconnaissance contract for the Tadla I area with US company EOGI International; Australia’s Tangiers Petroleum has raised A$6.35m ($6.7m) through a private placement in conjunction with its AIM listing

Having recently pulled out of Republic of Congo and Angola, London-listed Soco International has moved into Egypt, with the acquisition of Merlon Petroleum El Fayum Company for $215m, to be paid in cash and shares. Merlon, a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, has 100% in the onshore El Fayum concession in the Western Desert, which will add production, reserves and exploration upside to Soco’s Vietnam-focused portfolio.