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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.

National Oil Company of Liberia (Nocal) has written to Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COP) advising its acceptance of a deal for ExxonMobil to take a 70% operating stake in block LB-13 (AE 221/11).

Baraka Petroleum has been forced to pull out of its Mali blocks because of funding difficulties, but the country whose potential it pioneered is now seeing brisk licensing interest from a wide range of players, writes Rosie Collyer.

Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) is awaiting regulatory approval for a farm-in to offshore blocks 11B/12B. The company said in a shareholder presentation it hoped to drill in Q4 2013 or Q1 2014. The well is eagerly awaited as providing a first test of South Africa’s deep offshore potential

Statoil has decided to cancel the Stena Carron rig contract after two dry wells on pre-salt targets in Kwanza Basin blocks 38 and 39. “Statoil’s first well results from the area have been disappointing and, although the company still sees remaining prospectivity in the basin and on the Statoil acreage, more time is needed to evaluate the well results and mature new prospects before deciding on future activities,” the company said.So far this year, Statoil has suspended Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Vanguard rig, Saipem’s Scarabeo 5, China Oilfield Services Limited’s COSL Pioneer, Transocean’s Spitsbergen, and Songa Offshore’s Songa Trym.

US indie Vanco Energy Company, Russia’s Lukoil, the government and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) have signed a new petroleum agreement covering the Cape Three Points Deepwater block in the Tano Basin (AE 145/13).

Office Nationale des Hydrocarbures et des Mines on 22 September announced the signing of a reconnaissance contract with Royal Dutch Shell for the Issouka onshore area in north-east Morocco. This followed a similar announcement on 9 September of a reconnaissance contract with Spain’s Repsol Exploracion Atlas for the onshore Aoufouss area in eastern Morocco.

State oil authority Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Stratégiques has signed an agreement giving Spectrum ASA exclusive brokerage rights to more than 69,000km of vintage seismic data for offshore and onshore areas. The agreement also grants Spectrum the right to reprocess the various datasets and to license them to oil companies on a multi-client basis. Spectrum’s existing library in the region includes 3,626km of recently reprocessed pre-stack time migration (PSTM) data over the Morondava/Majunga basins to the west, 1,440km of PSTM data over the lle Sainte Marie area in the east, and a further 622km in the south over the Cap Sainte Marie.

Australia’s Flow Energy is planning exploration work in Block L6 on the Kenyan coast and has submitted an environmental impact assessment to the National Environment Management Authority

Houston-based Vaalco Energy on 16 September announced the start of production from the North Tchibala 1-H well, marking the first offshore output from the Dentale reservoir. The well, drilled to a total depth of 3,400 metres, is the second to be drilled and placed on production at Vaalco’s new Southeast Etame/North Tchibala (SEENT) platform on the Etame Marin permit. The well was brought on line at a rate of just over 3,000 b/d, and the Transocean Constellation II jackup rig is moving to the Avouma/South Tchibala platform to conduct workover operations.

As Chevron steps up the pace of exploration along the West African coast, it has announced a final investment decision on the Mafumeira Sul project offshore Cabinda.

Tower Resources subsidiary Neptune Petroleum has plugged and abandoned a second well, Avivi-1, on its Block 5 at the northern end of the Albertine Graben, and is debating whether to enter the third exploration period.