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The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has formally announced an investment in Perth-based Rialto Energy, to support its operations in Côte d’Ivoire

Eni and Vitol have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) for the development of gas discoveries in the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) Block in the Tano Basin.

Rialto Energy has agreed terms with Vitol E&P to work together to develop Rialto’s interests in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Subject to approvals, Vitol will acquire a 20% interest in Rialto Energy (Ghana) Ltd in exchange for providing a facility to cover Rialto’s $7.7m obligations for the drilling of the Starfish-1 exploration well in the Accra Block, which operator Ophir Energy intends to spud in June 2013. Vitol will also acquire 65% of the shares in Rialto Energy (Côte d’Ivoire) Ltd in exchange for providing $50m of capital to be invested in a work programme for Block CI-202.

Tanzania’s draft gas bill is set to be put before parliament, which began its final session of the year on 4 November. The legislation will provide a regulatory framework for the downstream sector based on the natural gas policy passed late last year, and should provide companies such as BG Group and Statoil with the security and confidence to push ahead with a final investment decision (FID) on a two-train liquefaction facility to export the combined 47tcf of natural gas reserves they have discovered offshore in the Ruvuma Basin.

Chevron subsidiary Chevron Mauritania Exploration Limited has reached agreement to acquire a 30% non-operated working interest in offshore blocks C8, C12 and C13 from Kosmos Energy. Kosmos is preparing to drill a well on the Tortue prospect, using the Atwood Achiever drillship. Chevron will not initially fund the well, but retains the option to participate in Tortue after the transaction is completed. Kosmos retains a 60% interest in the blocks and remains the operator, while state oil company Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et du Patrimoine Minier has a 10% carried interest.

As Angola plans to raise output to 2m b/d, Total is looking further ahead, launching the Pazflor oil development on the prolific Block 17, writes Thalia Griffiths. Block 17 operator Total has awarded the main contracts for the Pazflor oil development, due on stream in 2011.

Tullow Oil says it is moving its focus away from costly deep-water exploration and looking to less expensive prospects while it waits for new cash flow from the TEN development offshore Ghana in 2016. The announcement coincided with news that the Frégate well offshore Mauritania had delivered only modest success, opening a new oil play in the Late Cretaceous Turbidites at a cost of $200m. Tullow said Mauritania was just one of six exploration campaigns the company was pursuing and it would focus its near-term efforts on Norway and East Africa.

Africa Oil Corporation announced on 10 April that it had bought another 4.75m shares in Guyana-focused Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas Ltd, bringing its stake to about 18.8%. Africa Oil, which also owns 35% of Africa Energy Corporation, acquired the shares on a non-brokered private placement basis.

Seadrill Partners has secured a one-well contract with Petronas subsidiary PC Gabon Upstream SA for the West Polaris to work offshore Gabon. Work is expected to start in September 2019, running to the end of the year.Petronas operates the Likuale (F14) Block offshore southern Gabon, where the Boudji-1 well drilled in Q4 2018 intersected a 90-metre oil and gas column in water depths of 2,800 metres.

Operator Cairn Energy has spudded the Fan South-1 well on the Sangomar Deep licence, described by partner Far as the first pure exploration well since the Fan-1 and SNE-1 discoveries in 2014. The well is being drilled into the South Fan prospect targeting 134m barrels of recoverable oil in several stacked reservoir targets within tieback range to the planned SNE development in the event of success.Appraisal is now complete on the SNE field, where the partners are aiming for first oil in 2021.

Genel Energy has announced that it has agreed to acquire a 40% interest in the Adigala Block in north-east Ethiopia from New Age (African Global Energy) Limited. Genel will pay a share of back costs and of a 2D seismic survey planned by year-end. New Age reprocessed 520km of existing 2D seismic in 2012 and carried out a full tensor gravity survey.

Italy’s Eni has announced a successful production test on the Minsala Marine 1 well in the Marine XII Block. The discovery is located 35km offshore and 12km from the recent Nene Marine discovery. During the production test, the well delivered more than 5,000 b/d of oil and 14 mcf/d of gas, from a 37 metre section of the 420 metre oil column identified in the discovery well. The oil quality is 41° API. Eni estimates the potential of the Minsala Marine discovery to be about 1bn boe in place, of which 80% is oil.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s latest national conference has heard a call for a new push to settle the maritime border with Angola and enable the country to take a potential share of the region’s offshore oil. The ‘concertations nationales’ held from 7 September to 5 October in Kinshasa, gathered MPs, senators and civil society organisations to discuss the country’s political and economic future. Kinshasa University geologist Professor Ezequiel Kasongo Numbi Kashemukunda, a former MP of President Joseph Kabila’s Alliance de la Majorité Présidentielle and former diplomat, called on the government to stop wasting time and energy in trying to secure the recognition of its claims over the continental shelf beyond the 200-mile limit.

Wentworth Resources is to take over as operator of the Rovuma Onshore concession and carry out appraisal of the Tembo-1 gas discovery. The company said it had applied to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals for approval of a proposed appraisal programme for Tembo-1, and to increase its holding in Rovuma Onshore from 11.59% to 85%.Current operator Anadarko, Maurel & Prom and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production have all notified the National Petroleum Institute (INP) of the relinquishment of their interests in the block with effect from 31 August 2015.

Chevron Global Energy has sold its 25% non-operated interest in the Doba Basin to the government for $1.3bn. The sale closed on 13 June. The transaction includes the sale of Chevron’s interests in seven fields in the Doba Basin, which in 2013 had average crude oil production of 18,000 b/d net to Chevron. The sale also includes a 21% non-operated interest in the export pipeline system that transports crude to Cameroon’s Kribi port, and associated marine facilities.