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Just two weeks after declaring commerciality at its large Ain Tsila gas discovery in south-east Algeria, Irish independent Petroceltic announced a planned reverse takeover of Melrose Resources, satisfying its ambition to acquire some production directly and solidifying control of its major Algerian asset, writes John Hamilton.

The government of the breakaway republic of Somaliland has given ministerial approval for Jacka Resources to farm into Petrosoma’s Odewayne Block, taking 50%

More than 20 years ago, African Energy was reporting on hopes for exploration outside the Lower Congo Basin. Issue 1, in April 1998, reported plans for a licensing round to offer blocks 26-30, backed by 2D seismic from Western Geophysical, but the focus at the time was on the big signature bonuses expected for blocks 31-33, badly needed by the government and Sonangol as civil war continued onshore.

ExxonMobil has announced the start of oil production from the deep-water Erha North Phase 2 project. Erha North Phase 2 lies 60 miles offshore in 1,000 metres of water, four miles north of the Erha field, which has been producing since 2006. The project includes seven wells from three drill centres tied back to the existing Erha North floating production, storage and offloading vessel. The project is expected to develop an additional 165m barrels from the Erha North field. Peak production from the expansion is estimated at 65,000 b/d and will increase total Erha North field production to approximately 90,000 b/d.

Australian companies Pancontinental Oil & Gas and FAR Limited have agreed to settle their long-running dispute over Kenya Block L6 and relinquish the licence. Pancontinental said it would make a payment of $150,000 in settlement of outstanding cash calls. The partners will then start the process of withdrawing from the block. Pancontinental said it had received default notices totalling $567,145.80 this year. The company has disputed the amounts since 2015, arguing that no exploration was taking place on the block.

Aker Solutions Singapore Pte has signed a two-year frame agreement with Badr El Din Petroleum Company (Bapetco) to be the sole supplier for its surface wellhead equipment, installation and lifecycle services operations in the Western Desert; Houston-based Hyperdynamics Corporation on 18 April announced it had engaged BofA Merrill Lynch as financial adviser to assist with the potential sale of a portion of its 77% interest in its 25,000km2 exploration concession offshore Guinea; French major Total on 12 April announced that it had decided not to proceed with an offer for London AIM-listed Wessex Exploration

Australia’s FAR has challenged ConocoPhillips’ sale of its Senegal assets to Woodside Petroleum, but has not yet made its own intentions clear. FAR said on 23 August that there should be a pre-emption period for the sale, but Woodside argues this does not apply because it is buying a ConocoPhillips subsidiary, rather than buying the assets directly. FAR also announced an increase in contingent recoverable oil reserves to 641m barrels, from a new estimate including results from the BEL-1 and SNE-4 wells.

Despite the disappointment of Chinguetti, International oil companies are looking again at Mauritania, where Dana Petroleum and Petronas plan to drill this year. Tullow Oil exploration director Angus McCoss told African Energy that Mauritania had been “off the industry radar screen for a couple of years, which has given Tullow a great opportunity to do a regional geological review of the plays that may exist in that area”. Previous exploration led by Australia’s Woodside drilled down into the Miocene, finding the Chinguetti field, which causes great initial excitement but then proved geologically complex and expensive to develop.

Least known among ERHC Energy’s new Chadian blocks is Manga, located north of Lake Chad, along the border with Niger. This is among several unfashionable locations in the region attracting renewed interest as frontier explorers look to diversify and governments look to book new reserves and appease populations in marginal areas

Following the announcement that Heirs Holding is to invest $2.5bn in the African power sector as a part of US President Barack Obama’s Power Africa initiative, Heirs Holding chairman Tony Elumelu has announced his company is looking to purchase two oil-producing blocks to supply gas to the Ughelli power plant and other power projects. Ughelli was recently purchased by Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp), which is also controlled by Elumelu, a former chief executive of United Bank for Africa.

President Jakwaya Kikwete has brought a new dynamism to Tanzania’s reform efforts, but governance worries persist. In early May, Norway’s Norconsult said it has decided to pull out of the country following internal and external reviews of the activities of its partly owned subsidiary NTZ.

A year after the Arab Spring, North African officials are once more flocking to events held beyond their borders, signalling a less introverted approach to doing business by companies traumatised by political turbulence

Sharjah-based Dana Gas has raised $135m through the sale of 1.675m of its shares in MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Company. Dana Gas took a 3% shareholding in MOL in 2009 as part of an agreement to farm into the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and the 8 February transaction leaves Dana Gas with a remaining interest in MOL of 1.486m shares, or about 1.4% of the share capital.

Nigeria has a long history of mining. It was once a large gold producer, the sixth largest global exporter of tin ore and a big exporter of coal in the early 1960s

South Sudan’s oil production has fallen by about 25,000 b/d, or 15%, due to problems with well maintenance in the key producing state of Upper Nile, according to the latest sales and marketing data from the Ministry of Petroleum and Mines. The ministry has outlined a lifting programme for 4.2m barrels of crude for November, equivalent to 140,000 b/d. Production in H1 2014 averaged 165,000 b/d. The drop is significant, and will be costly for the government. The outbreak of hostilities in mid-December had already resulted in a sharp drop in output from 220,000 b/d in November 2013.