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President John Evans Atta Mills led a ceremony to start the flow of oil from the Jubilee field on 15 December, amid celebrations in Ghana and warnings from transparency campaigners that the country still has no oil law

Following promising results from its first well in the semi-autonomous republic of Puntland, Canada’s Horn Petroleum has begun drilling the Shabeel North well on the Dharoor Valley Block.

New management, new strategy and possible new institutions are shaking up Libya’s energy sector, but first it must get over the recent lack of commercial discoveries and a number of thorny political issues

Eni on 3 May announced an oil discovery on the A-2X exploration prospect in the South West Meleiha licence in the Western Desert, some 103km north of the Siwa oasis. The well is the first to be drilled by Eni in a new campaign to explore the deep geology of the Faghur Basin.The SWM A-2X well was drilled to a total depth of 5,090 metres and encountered 18 metres of light oil in Carboniferous-age Paleozoic sandstones of the Dessouky formation, as well as other hydrocarbon levels in Cretaceous-age Alam El Bueib sandstones.

Operator Murphy Oil has pulled out of the offshore Ntem Block, transferring its 50% stake to Sterling Energy at no cost to Sterling. The Bamboo exploration well drilled in H1 2014 failed to find hydrocarbons, and the block is the subject of overlapping border claims by Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Force majeure was lifted on the block in January 2014 by agreement with Cameroon’s Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) to enable drilling to go ahead, though the well was outside the affected area.

Cabinet reshuffle and impact on hydrocarbons sector

There have been several false dawns, with Moroccan governments promising a major new gas import scheme to provide energy security for two decades. But recent statements by energy minister Abdelkader Amara suggest Rabat is finally committing to LNG. Amara has said the long-awaited gas law will come before parliament by June (ahead of general elections in 2016), but before then the Islamist -led government plans to open talks on contracts to supply 3-5bcm/yr. Main competitors GDF Suez and Royal Dutch Shell have dedicated senior management teams to developing a Moroccan deal over several years.

Premier Oil has confirmed plans to shut down the Chinguetti field by year-end, saying operator Petronas submitted an abandonment and decommissioning plan to the government on 29 June. Output has declined steadily due to natural decline from the existing wells, and the field is no longer economic at the current low oil price. Chinguetti started up in 2003, but proved more geologically complex and less productive than anticipated. Gross production in 2015 averaged 5,083 b/d, compared to 5,512 b/d in 2014. No infill drilling or workover activity took place on the field during 2015.

With interest in Mauritania revived by Kosmos Energy’s gas discoveries, ExxonMobil has signed production-sharing agreements (PSAs) for three vacant deep-water blocks. Blocks C22, C17 and C14 are located an average of 200km offshore. Together they measure nearly 34,000km2, in water depths ranging from 1,000 metres to more than 3,500 metres.The new licences follow a farm-in to Kosmos’ blocks by BP, announced in December 2016, while in May, Total signed a new PSA for Block C7, previously operated by Dana Petroleum.

Uganda plans to launch a second licensing round in May, offering relinquished areas and new acreage, notably in Lake Albert. Energy minister Irene Muloni told a press briefing during Africa Oil Week in Cape Town a technical team was working on demarcating the blocks in preparation for a launch at the East African Petroleum Conference in Mombasa in May. The blocks on offer will vary in size from 600km2 to 1,200km2, Muloni said. All have some 2D data, and some have 3D and well data.

ExxonMobil signed an agreement with regulator Agence Nationale pour la Valorisation des Ressources en Hydrocarbures (Alnaft) on 29 September to participate in a study assessing the hydrocarbon potential of basins in the Algerian Sahara. Exxon has been looking at opportunities in Algeria for some time, and had been in talks with Sonatrach to develop a field in the south-western Ahnet Basin, but talks stalled in March 2019 following protests against former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Managing director Rob Shepherd and finance director Andrew Rose have resigned from Azonto Petroleum following a review of the company’s operating structure and costs. Development of the Gazelle gas field has made only slow progress, chiefly because of the complexities of co-ordinating the upstream development with a planned gas-fired power plant, but Azonto affiliate Vioco received an Exclusive Exploitation Authorisation for the field in December. “This, coupled with progress being made in respect of the CI-Energies IPP project, means that momentum is clearly building as Vioco moves towards project sanction mid year.

Fred Olsen Energy subsidiary Dolphin Drilling has signed contracts with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation for the provision of the drillship

Oil minister Etienne Ngoubou has announced the award of 13 blocks following talks with a shortlist of bidders in Libreville on 28-29 October. Ophir Energy was awarded blocks A-3, A-4, A-5 and A-6, Impact won D-14, Marathon E-12 and Perenco E-14. A consortium of Repsol and ExxonMobil was awarded E-13, Elenilto and Petronas took F-12, ExxonMobil and Noble Energy took C-11, Petronas and Eni took F-13, Perenco and Petronas F-14, and Marathon and Cobalt G-13. The other 30 blocks on offer were not awarded. Companies had applied for licences for 18 blocks from a total of 43 available. 


South Africa’s SacOil has agreed to acquire Cyprus-registered Mena International Petroleum Company, which has the development lease for the Lagia oil field in the Sinai Peninsula. The field is at the development stage with 16-18° API heavy oil in shallow reservoirs and light oil potential in deeper reservoirs. The assets include production facilities and storage for 3,000 barrels of oil. Test production has started, and SacOil said it would implement a phased development programme to bring the field into full production.