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Operator Perenco has announced that the Sputnik-1 well, targeting a pre-salt structure in the offshore Arouwe Block, has encountered non-commercial hydrocarbon pay in up to 300 metres of net sandstone reservoir. The Vantage Tungsten Explorer drillship drilled Sputnik-1 to a final depth of 4,868 metres in water depths of 1,023 metres. The rig will now leave the block, and the results of this well will be incorporated into wider understanding of the region, Perenco said.

Total started up production on 29 December from the Egina field on OML 130. At plateau, the Egina field will produce 200,000 b/d of oil, which represents about 10% of Nigeria’s current production, posing a potential challenge for the production cuts agreed by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in December. Under the 1.2m bbl agreement, Nigeria is expected to keep oil production, excluding other liquids, at 1.738m b/d.

With the threat of another pipeline shutdown averted, South Sudan’s oil production is expected to increase from about 180,000 b/d to 200,000 b/d in the coming weeks, and to at least 250,000 b/d by year-end, according to oil industry sources in Juba. During a one-day summit in Khartoum on 3 September with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, Sudanese leader Omar Hassan Al-Bashir agreed to reverse his decision, announced on 9 June, to stop receiving, processing and transporting crude from South Sudan within 60 days. Under pressure from oil companies and foreign governments, Bashir had already twice delayed the anticipated shutdown, originally scheduled for 7 August, to 22 August and then to 6 September.

Egypt-focused SDX Energy has signed non-binding heads of terms with Circle Oil to acquire the troubled company’s Egypt and Morocco assets. The agreement, announced on 11 January, has a 30-day exclusivity period. “Circle’s assets present an attractive opportunity to add material production and reserves at an attractive price,” SDX chief executive Paul Welch said in a statement. Circle has the producing Sebou permit and the Lalla Mimouna permit in Morocco, and the Al Amir and Geyad permits in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez, but has run into substantial financial difficulties due to payment arrears built up by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.

Eni spudded the B1-16/3 exploration well in contract area D of the offshore NC41 area in the Mediterranean north of Tripoli on 4 January. The area was granted to Eni North Africa under the EPSA IV contract model signed with National Oil Corporation (NOC) in June 2008.The well will be drilled in water depths of 156 metres, about 5km north of the Bahr Essalam gas field. NOC said it expected the well to be drilled to a total depth of 3,007 metres

Following Dragon Oil’s decision to drop its bid for Bowleven on 26 March reported a narrowing pre-tax loss for the six months to 31 December of $5.495m and a loss per share of $0.02; Nigerian conglomerate Oando is increasing its upstream activity, with three rigs now in operation and a fourth due in service by year-end

Sound Energy announced on 8 June that it had submitted a development application to the Ministry of Energy for the Tendrara gas discovery in eastern Morocco. The application for the Phase 1 development of Tendrara covers the technical and commercial aspects of the field development plan and the outline of the development area. Sound expects the discovery to produce some 60mcf/d of natural gas, to be produced through a future 120km spur to the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline (GME), which runs from Algeria’s Hassi R’Mel fields to Spain.

Delays to Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC)’s fourth offshore licensing round are due to “some technical and housekeeping reasons”, according to TPDC officials. But delays in shaping policy are weighing on operational issues, and best guess, TPDC managing director Yona Killagane said in early September, is that the round will be “pushed up to November 2012 at the earliest, if the parliament approves a new natural gas policy in its October session”.

ExxonMobil has expanded its presence in the Walvis Basin by signing agreements for four new blocks adjacent to the maritime border with Angola. The company announced on 24 April that it had signed an agreement with the government and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor) for blocks 1710 and 1810, and farm-in agreements with Namcor for blocks 1711 and 1811A.The blocks extend from the shoreline to about 215km offshore in water depths of up to 4,000 metres.

Denmark’s Maersk Oil has announced plans to close its Houston office and reduce its Luanda team to try to reduce capital expenditure and improve returns from the unsanctioned Chissonga project. Maersk said options included a future project developed jointly with other hydrocarbon discoveries in the same region. “Chissonga, like many deep-water projects in our industry, remains economically challenged in the current market environment. Maersk Oil remains committed to the Chissonga project and we have evaluated multiple options to commercialise these resources in the best interests of our partners and the Angolan authorities.

The government of Somaliland has announced a production sharing contract (PSC) with Norway’s DNO International for onshore Block SL18. The PSC was signed by Somaliland president Ahmed Mohamoud Silanyo and DNO International executive chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani. DNO has initiated studies on the 12,000km2 block ahead of a seismic programme planned for 2014. Genel Energy and Ophir Energy already have acreage in the self-declared republic, while DNO has acreage across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen.

New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd (NZOG) has made a first foray outside its home area with the Diodore permit in the Gulf of Gabes. Chief executive David Salisbury, who travelled to Tunis for the signing ceremony, said NZOG had been assessing opportunities in Tunisia since 2008

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Tullow Oil plc will be able to explore the same play as their Sierra Leone find offshore Liberia, where the government plans a bid round for the unlicensed Blocks 1-5, to be followed by licensing of the ultra-deep.

Foxtrot International has completed a four-year, $850m field development programme, significantly raising output from Block CI-27. Oslo-listed RAK Petroleum said two new gas fields, Marlin and Manta, have been brought on stream following the installation of a four-legged, manned platform and related processing and pipeline facilities and the drilling of one exploration and seven production wells. Gas production from CI-27 climbed to an average of 170mcf/d in August 2016, constituting more than three-quarters of Côte d’Ivoire’s total. Production of oil and condensates from the block averaged 3,000 b/d.

Russia’s Lukoil has spudded a deep-water well on the Savannah prospect on Block SL-5-11, using the Eirik Raude rig. The well, which spudded on 12 September, will be drilled to more than 4,700 metres, in water depths exceeding 2,000 metres. Lukoil took over as block operator in June 2011, alongside Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum, and PanAtlantic Energy, the successor company to Vanco Energy Company.