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Perth-based Rialto Energy has announced a resumption of exploration activity offshore Côte d’Ivoire following the inauguration of President Alassane Ouattara and the lifting of European sanctions (AE 209/3).

Libyan oil executives presented three major upstream project proposals to IRN’s New Libya Oil & Gas Forum in London in mid-October. These were Mellitah Oil & Gas (MOG)’s offshore Bahr Essalam development, Nafusa Oil Operations’ onshore Ghadames Basin development, and Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco)’s plans for developing existing producing and non-producing fields. The country’s disastrous budget and security situation means that, in theory, none of these proposals should have any chance of advancing. National Oil Corporation (NOC) chairman Mustafa Sanalla confirmed that all exploration programmes had been cancelled for 2015 because there is no budget for them.

Eni has started production from the Mpungi field in the West Hub Development Project on Block 15/06. The start-up of the Mpungi field, which follows the West Hub development’s first oil from the Sangos field in November 2014 and Cinguvu in early April 2015, will bring production to some 100,000 b/d of oil in Q1 2016.The West Hub Development Project comprises the Sangos, Cinguvu, Mpungi, Mpungi North, Ochigufu and Vandumbu fields in water depths ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 metres.

Algeria’s shale gas may be decades away from commercial exploitation, but Sonatrach has shown that unconventional production is at least theoretically possible. Earlier this year, it flared gas from one of two pilot wells drilled to test shale resources in its southern desert. Officials attending The Energy Exchange’s North Africa Oil and Gas Summit in Tunisia in late October announced the news. The summit was attended by relatively junior officials as senior representatives were in Houston for a licensing roadshow, which is also being used to promote the country’s shale potential. 


Gabon Oil Company (GOC) has agreed to take a 10% paying interest in the Dussafu production-sharing contract. The state oil company will pay $28.5m, representing its share of past production costs from April 2017 to date.Operator BW Offshore said GOC would contribute to cash calls for the development and production of the field and adhere to the joint operating agreement and lifting arrangements that are currently in force.

Shell has pulled out of the protracted bidding for Cove Energy, but is expected to seek a share of Mozambique’s gas riches by another route

ALGERIA: Orascom contracts for El Merk CPF; ALGERIA: Petroceltic drilling; NIGERIA: Usan order for Nexans; RWANDA: Vangold granted 90-day extension; SENEGAL: Shell-funded CSEM programme under way

Nigeria’s Sirius Group has given Penspen a contract to conduct an engineering study for the monetisation of gas reserves from offshore oilfields in the Niger Delta. A key element of this agreement is the development of gas reserves in OML 122.The study is being conducted as part of Project Dawn, a three-year development project worth $1.2bn that includes the construction of a pipeline network to deliver natural gas to the existing Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System. Project Dawn is expected to supply 250mcf/d of natural gas under a gas sales and purchase agreement between Sirius Oilfield Support Services and Nigerian Gas Company, a subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Operator Repsol spudded the delayed Welwitschia-1 well in the Walvis Basin on 23 April, using the Rowan Renaissance newbuild drillship. The drillship arrived in Walvis Bay on 4 March, at the start of a three-year contract to Repsol. The well is expected to be drilled to a total depth of 3,000 metres to target Maastrichtian and Aptian-Albian reservoir sequences, and is being keenly watched after a series of disappointing wells last year.

BOOTS & COOTS: North African contracts; CIRCLE OIL: Moroccan gas production brings first revenues

Better known for its activities with the Government of Southern Sudan, former England cricketer Philippe Edmonds’ White Nile Ltd has widened its horizons, buying private oil company PA Energy Africa Ltd for $1.839m in cash and 3,132,688 shares.

Nigerian-based South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPetro) has boldly placed its bid alongside the majors to be the first to discover oil offshore East Africa, from its assets offshore Madagascar and the French territory of Juan de Nova, acquired from Roc Oil in 2011. SAPetro is acquiring a large, 9,000km2 3D seismic survey in four areas to examine prospects identified by earlier 2D seismic. The PGS Ramform Sterling vessel is carrying out the survey, which is expected to complete early next year.

Tullow Oil said on 23 September that its reinsurers had confirmed hull and machinery insurance cover for the Kwame Nkrumah floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in Ghana, following the failure of the turret bearing earlier this year. The hull and machinery policy, which is procured on behalf of the joint venture, covers relevant operating and capital costs associated with current operating procedures at the FPSO and the long-term solution. “As operator of the Jubilee field, Tullow will now work closely with the loss adjusters and reinsurers to establish an efficient payments schedule as remedial work continues.

Croatia’s Crosco Integrated Drilling & Well Services Company has signalled its return to North Africa with the launch of drilling services for Chile’s Sipetrol International.

ION Geophysical Corporation has announced a new offshore 2D multi-client programme, EquatorSpan II, in cooperation with the Ministry of Petroleum and Hydrocarbons’ Direction Général des Hydrocarbures. The programme includes over 1,900km of new high-quality, deeply imaged seismic data and is supported with industry prefunding.ION said EquatorSpan II would address the need for greater understanding of geologic conditions and basin evolution in support of future offshore licence rounds.