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Tanzania’s Union Government and the semi-autonomous Zanzibar Revolutionary Government have reached preliminary agreement over a revenue-sharing deal that could eventually permit exploration to go ahead in the archipelago’s waters. Royal Dutch Shell was awarded northern offshore blocks 9-12 to the east of Zanzibar in the 2002 licensing round but has been unable to conclude a production-sharing agreement.

The South African government has gazetted technical regulations for petroleum exploration and exploitation, the majority of which deal with hydraulic fracturing in the country, providing guidelines for environmental impact assessment, detailing equipment standards to ensure safe drilling and specifying that all operators must obtain a water licence before starting work. 
Interested parties have until 14 November to submit comments on the proposals, then the government will make any adjustments and the regulations will be promulgated. Three companies, Royal Dutch Shell, Challenger and Falcon, filed applications for exploration in the Karoo Basin before the government placed a moratorium on licensing in February 2011 (AE 221/12).

Sonangol has announced its long-awaited onshore licensing round, offering acreage in the Kwanza and Lower Congo basins. A roadshow will be held in London on 21 February, postponed from 3 February. The round will offer ten blocks, seven in the Kwanza Basin and three in the Lower Congo. Another five blocks will be reserved for Sonangol. Seismic company PGS is brokering 2,500km of newly acquired 2D seismic over the Kwanza Basin area, south of Luanda. The onshore has seen little modern exploration, but PGS says 133 exploration/appraisal wells were drilled by Purfina, Petrangol and Total before the early 1970s, resulting in the discovery of 11 oilfields and two small gas accumulations with combined oil in place of about 400m barrels.

A firm international response led by the United States and a collapse in the resolve of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) are the main factors which forced the unexpected return of the eastern oil terminals to official National Oil Corporation (NOC) control on 11 July, allowing the lifting of force majeure and the resumption of operations and exports. As none of the central demands set out by the LNA’s General Command appear to have been met, the underlying political tensions which motivated the crisis will remain a destabilising force.

Former Sonatrach vice president (downstream) and interim president Abdelhafid Feghouli has been appointed president and chief executive of the Algerian energy giant’s subsidiary Tassili Airlines (Tal).

Chevron subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited on 16 June confirmed the start of initial production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Angola LNG plant at Soyo. The project will reduce the country’s reliance on oil revenue and monetise gas that had been flared, but has suffered delays and cost overruns. Production was slated to begin in Q4 2011 but was initially postponed until February, and then June 2012, when an electrical fire halted progress.

In the latest sale from its onshore portfolio, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has completed the sale of its 30% interest in Oil Mining Lease 24 and related facilities in the eastern Niger Delta to local company Newcross Exploration and Production Limited for $600m. Total E&P Nigeria Limited (10%) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (5%) have also assigned their interests in the lease, giving Newcross a 45% interest. The other 55% is held by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Uganda expects to complete front-end engineering design (Feed) work on the oil export pipeline to Tanzania’s Tanga port in the next couple of weeks and take a final investment decision (FID) by year-end or early next year, ready for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) tender process next year. Acting permanent secretary at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development Robert Kasande told African Energy that Feed for the upstream projects would take a little longer but the ministry was still aiming for FID by year-end and EPC next year.

Lukoil has expanded its Ivorian acreage by acquiring a 65% stake in Block CI-504 from Nigeria’s Taleveras Energy. The 399km2 block is located immediately north and east of Lukoil’s CI-205 and south of the producing Baobab field, in water depths ranging from 800 to 2,100 metres.

The increasingly gas-focused Seven Energy has secured an additional $255m equity investment after selling 26% of the company to Singapore government-owned investment company Temasek and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). Temasek has invested $150m in return for a 15.6% stake in Seven, while the IFC committed $75m. The IFC’s African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund also invested a further $30m for Seven’s irredeemable convertible, coupon-less loan notes, which the company says are akin to equity, taking the IFC’s total share to 10.4%. The new injection of funds takes Seven Energy’s market capitalisation to almost $1bn.

President Alpha Condé on 13 March signed a decree approving the start of negotiations with Total to license offshore blocks A4 and C2. In October 2017, Total signed a technical evaluation agreement for a larger, 55,000km2 area of the offshore, of which the two blocks are part. PGS carried out a multi-client 3D seismic survey over blocks A4 and A5 in 2019.

Noble Energy is expected to submit a plan of development this year for the Diega accumulation on Block I. Partner PA Resources said Diega was expected to be developed as a subsea tieback to the Aseng floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, targeting first oil in 2016. PA Resources said results of a long-term drill stem test had been positive. The I-8ST sidetrack well tested for one month at constrained rates of up to 7,300 b/d of oil, and has been suspended for re-use as a future production well. Production from the Alen field, which is also tied back to the Aseng FPSO, began in July 2013.

Sasol Petroleum Mozambique has given Amec Foster Wheeler a detailed design and engineering contract for surface facilities for Phase 1 Tranche 1 of the PSA development at Temane. The scope of work is for an integrated oil, liquefied petroleum gas and gas project, including flowlines for the fields, located adjacent to the existing Temane Central Processing Facility.

Houston-based Hyperdynamics says it has accepted a proposal from drilling contractor Pacific Drilling to use the Pacific Scirocco drillship instead of the Pacific Bora for the Fatala-1 well, due to spud in April. Financial terms under the contract are unchanged. “The Pacific Scirocco is equipped to drill in deeper water – up to 12,000 feet – and could handle either of the two optional follow-up fan wells that may be drilled if the Fatala-1 well is successful,” said Hyperdynamics president and chief executive Ray Leonard. The Pacific Scirocco has been working offshore Nigeria for Total for the last five years.

Kosmos Energy said on 12 December that the Lamantin-1 well on Block C-12 had failed to find significant hydrocarbons. Kosmos said the Campanian reservoir target was water-bearing. “We believe the prospect failed due to a lack of trap, related to a combination of up-dip sand pinch-out and top/base seal effectiveness. The well will now be plugged and abandoned and the well results integrated into the ongoing evaluation of the significant remaining prospectivity in Kosmos’ large acreage position,” Kosmos said.