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Austria’s OMV has made a condensate and gas find with the Sourour-1 exploration well in the Jenein Sud exploration permit, the fourth discovery in the permit within the last two years.

Hoping to replicate its success in Uganda, Canada’s Heritage Oil Corporation has increased its presence in East Africa with farm-ins to Petrodel Resources’ Latham and Kimbiji licences, and Dominion Oil and Gas’ Kisangire and Lukuliro licences.

AIM-listed Europa Oil & Gas has announced the relinquishment of the Bir Lahlou and Hagunia licence areas in the disputed Western Sahara. The company said it wanted to concentrate on its joint venture with Kosmos Energy off the west coast of Ireland. The blocks were awarded to Europa in March 2006 following a licensing round organised by the Polisario Front liberation movement’s government-in- exile the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

TGS-Nopec has announced plans for a multi-client 3D survey in blocks 5 and 6 offshore Benin

Eni on 10 May announced the start-up of the third production unit at the Zohr gas project, increasing the installed capacity to 1.2 bcf/d. Eni said the third unit had started one week after the second unit’s successful power-up, and Zohr is now producing 1.1bcf/d in ramp-up, equivalent to approximately 200,000 boe/d.

Data provider TGS plans to start seismic acquisition in H2 this year for the Jaan project, a 3D dataset over the southern portion of the Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Guinea Conakry (MSGBC) Basin. TGS business development manager AME Ben Sayers told the Africa E&P Summit organised by Frontier Communications in London on 23 May the aim was to image the prospective shelf edge trend that has produced prolific results in Senegal.

Operator Murphy Oil has failed to find hydrocarbons with the Bamboo-1 well on the Ntem concession. Murphy began drilling the well in February following the lifting of force majeure provisions relating to overlapping border claims by Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. The well was drilled to a total depth of 4,747 metres in 1,600 metres of water, targeting a series of stacked Cretaceous basin floor submarine fans. Partner Sterling Energy said the well encountered all its pre-drill targets, but no commercial hydrocarbons were found and the well would be plugged and abandoned.

Saudi/Canadian Petrol One Corporation has signed a preliminary agreement with Norway’s Hemla Invest for Hemla to operate its Nkani property (AE 145/21).

Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) and Perenco have announced a final investment decision for an eight-year floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to sell gas to Russia’s Gazprom. On 27 November, Gazprom Marketing & Trading Singapore, Perenco Cameroon, Golar Hilli and Golar Cameroon signed agreements for the project, based on the allocation of 500bcf of natural gas reserves to be supplied by SNH and Perenco from the Sanaga Sud and Ebome fields. Golar will own and operate the Hilli vessel which is under conversion at the Keppel shipyard in Singapore. First LNG deliveries from the terminal are expected to start in H2 2017.

Ministers from Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Ghana signed a protocol of agreement on 16 May creating a framework under which all three countries will work together to explore the possibility of establishing a jointly owned regional gas company. ‘All three countries are cognisant of the benefits that would be derived from the regional gas company, including new revenue streams from the sale of hitherto unexploited natural gas, creation of new jobs, and facilitating access to gas by power plants, industries and homes that need them as a source of energy or feedstock,” Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy said in a statement.

The Odum well on the West Cape Three Points licence offshore Ghana has found a commercial light oil accumulation separate from the Jubilee field (AE 132/12). The discovery is a stratigraphic trap in a Campanian age fan system and opens a second new play fairway in the Tano Basin, Tullow said, adding that further prospectivity in this new Campanian play had already been identified in both

Taipan Resources has announced that the Badada-1 well drilled by its Lion Petroleum subsidiary on Block 2B in the Anza Basin found only gas shows and will be plugged and abandoned. Badada had been touted as a potential play opener, but had also been the subject of court action by local people claiming they would be displaced by the well and had not been properly informed about the company’s operations. A temporary injunction halting drilling was lifted in December, allowing work to continue at the well site. A further hearing in the case is scheduled for 16 March.

Despite the turmoil hitting global markets, Tullow Oil says its $2bn debt refinancing is well advanced and is targeted to complete in February.

Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) have both launched bid rounds. EGPC is offering 11 exploration blocks in the Gulf of Suez, Western Desert and the Eastern Desert sedimentary basins, with bids due by 1 October. Egas is offering 16 blocks, 13 in the Mediterranean Sea and three in the onshore Nile Delta, with bids due by 8 October.

Gasol has agreed to buy upstream company Energie de Côte d’Ivoire (Enerci) from GDF Suez E&P International. Enerci is an Ivorian-registered company that owns a 12% stake in the gas-producing CI-27 licence that includes the Foxtrot field. “The acquisition provides us with an opportunity to bring a revenue-generating, profitable and self-funding asset into the group and, as such, represents a key milestone in our development as well as a stable, financeable cash-flow base from which to grow,” said Gasol chief operating officer Alan Buxton.