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In early October, National Oil Corporation (NOC) officials met Central Bank of Libya (CBL) governor Sadiq Al-Kebir, tribal and municipal representatives, and international stakeholders including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, diplomats and international oil company executives at St George’s House in Windsor Castle. According to NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla, the most important of the eight principles agreed during the meeting was that the exploitation of Libya’s oil and gas resources should be for the benefit of all Libyan people, regardless of location.

Local players brought in to sell directly foreign companies after the government abandoned direct licensing round are coming under increasing scrutiny

IOCs report renewed optimism over investments in maritime joint development zones following Angola’s deal with Republic of Congo to jointly develop the offshore Lianzi field. But some disputes remain apparently intractable, stopping other joint developments in the area

Petrel Resources and Clontarf Energy say they are close to receiving government approval of a licence for Tano 2A, a 1,532km2 onshore/offshore block close to the Jubilee oil field.

Publication of the final Natural Gas Policy document, which was promised for June, has been held up as parliament concentrates on finalising the 2013/14 budget. “While having previously indicated that the Policy would be published during June, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals is still understood to be finalising approval of the document prior to formal publication,” law firm Clyde & Co said in their monthly energy briefing.

Kosmos Energy has signed agreements with Atwood Oceanics and Noble Energy to use the moored semi-submersible rig Atwood Hunter for its deep-water drilling programme offshore West Africa

Norway’s InterOil Exploration & Production has signed an agreement with Iran’s Petropars to sell 10% in the CabindaNorth licence for $7m. The 2,400km2 block is operated by Sonangol P&P and InterOil farmed-in in January 2008, taking21%. The block has existing oil discoveries in the Zila ridge area near the coast and in the Dinge high area. Sonangol has 20%;other partners on the block are SOCO International with 17%, Teikoku Oil Company (17%), Angola Consulting Resources(Acrep) (15%) and Eni Angola (10%).

ERHC Energy has filed a lawsuit in the Federal High Court in Abuja “to stop any tampering with its rights” in Blocks 5 and 6 of the Nigeria/São Tomé Joint Development Zone (JDZ), following media reports that it had been removed from the blocks.

The governments of Equatorial Guinea (EG) and Cameroon signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 10 July paving the way for joint development of Noble Energy’s Yolanda discovery in EG Block I and Yoyo discovery offshore Cameroon. The company told African Energy the MoU stated that the two discoveries were in a contiguous reservoir that would be jointly developed as the Yoyo-Yolanda condensate gas field and operated by Noble Energy.“The MoU signifies a commitment from both countries to work together to develop the Yoyo-Yolanda condensate gas field,” Noble said.

Circle Oil has signed a petroleum agreement with the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (Onhym) for the Lalla Mimouna Nord and Lalla Mimouna Sud exploration permits in the Rharb Basin.

Companies and acreage have changed hands at a brisk pace over the past year and, while offshore oil remains elusive, hopes remain high that other countries can replicate Uganda’s success. East Africa pioneer Black Marlin Energy is now owned by Afren, while Irish independent Tullow Oil has established a big position onshore Kenya, where it hopes to use the skills

Soco International announced on 2 July that it had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Quill Trading Corporation and WMLC Resources Limited to sell its shareholding in SOCO Cabinda Limited for up to $5m in cash.Soco’s 85%-owned subsidiary Soco Cabinda holds a 22%, non-operating, working interest in the production-sharing contract for the onshore Cabinda North Block.

Afren and its partner Amni International Petroleum Development Company have announced the start of production from the Okoro Setu project in OML 112. Initial production from the first of two wells drilled to date has commenced at a rate of more than 3,000 b/d of 27º API gravity oil. .

Chevron subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company has given Sapura Energy Angola a contract for the provision of the semi-submersible tender-assisted drilling rig Sapura Jaya. The contract covers provision of the rig and drilling services for two years starting in Q2 2020, with a further two possible six-month extensions. Chevron operates Block 0 offshore Cabinda, which contains the Mafumeira field development, and Block 14, which lies west from Block 0.

Pharos Energy, the former SOCO International, has abandoned plans to acquire Royal Dutch Shell’s upstream assets in the Western Desert. Pharos said on 6 March it was evaluating the acquisition as part of a consortium.