Search results

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.

After more than a year of blockage, the detailed provisions in the latest deal reached by negotiators from Sudan and South Sudan mean oil could start to flow again within weeks. The deal was reached in the early hours of 12 March after almost a week of talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. An implementation schedule has been agreed by the two sides that demands a resumption in oil production be mandated by the two governments by 24 March. South Sudan halted oil exports via Sudan in January 2012, after the Khartoum government began to confiscate South Sudanese oil as payment for what it claimed were unpaid transit fees.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture has completed the sale of its 45% stakes in onshore blocks OML 29, 24 and 18 to Nigerian companies. The OML 29 stake and the 100km Nembe Creek trunk line were sold to Aiteo Eastern E&P, while Newcross Exploration and Production bought a stake in OML 24, in the eastern Niger Delta, in November. Eroton Exploration and Production Company, a special-purpose vehicle owned by Mart Resources, Midwestern Oil and Gas and Suntrust Oil, bought the JV’s interests in OML 18.

AFRICA OIL: Newcomer plans IPO on newcomer Plus market; CANDAX: Non-exec chairman; GEOGLOBAL: Egyptian block rights handed over in India play

Seplat Petroleum Development Company has acquired stakes in two Niger Delta licences sold by Chevron Nigeria. The company, which raised $500m with a share listing in London and Lagos last year and is also considering a bid for Afren (AE 292/19), has completed the acquisition of a 40% stake in OML 53, as well as indirectly buying 22.5% in OML 55. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has 60% in both blocks. Seplat will acquire the OML 55 stake by buying 56.25% of Belemaoil Producing Limited, a special purpose vehicle that has completed the acquisition of 40% in the licence from Chevron.

Songas and the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) have approved a tariff methodology for the proposed doubling of Songo Songo output to 140mcf/d. An Ewura spokesman told African Energy the methodology, accounting for Songas’ operation and maintenance expenditure and taxes among other costs, will provide the framework on which Ewura’s tariff offer for Songas’ increased output will be based.

Total has given Technip an engineering, procurement and supply contract for the offshore Moho Nord project. Moho Nord consists of two developments: Moho Phase 1bis and Moho Nord, and this contract is part of the Moho Phase 1bis development, which consists of tiebacks to the existing deep-water Alima floating production unit and the shallow-water N’Kossa platform.

Total has received government approval for the acquisition of a 50% stake in Block 11B/12B from Canadian Natural Resources. Total takes over as operator and will drill a well in 2014. The block is located in the Outeniqua Basin, around 175km off the southern coast, and covers an area of 19,000km2 in water depths ranging from 200 to 1,800 metres. Conditions in the area are challenging and CNR had been looking for a partner ahead of planned drilling.

Savannah Petroleum announced on 15 March that it has signed a letter of award with Great Wall Drilling Company for GWDC rig 89. The letter provides for a programme of three firm wells, and includes options for a further six wells. The rig is in Niger, and drilling is expected to start during H1 2017. Savannah has issued purchase orders for long-lead items including casing and wellheads.

Following its recent farm-out in Morocco, Pura Vida Energy is seeking a partner for the offshore Nkembe Block. The Australian company, which acquired 80% in the block in January, said it was interpreting existing 3D seismic data and expected to release resource estimates in July. In August, it will open a data room with the aim of finding a partner to fund new 3D seismic acquisition and drilling.

Total E&P Angola has given Fugro a three-year survey contract worth $26m to provide offshore positioning services and accurate navigation systems for Total E&P Angola’s drilling units, vessels and structures, together with onshore and offshore survey services. Fugro said the contract was a continuation of services supplied to Total E&P Angola under a similar contract since 2008.

Bowleven on 11 May announced the arrival of the Topaz Driller rig in Cameroonian waters from Singapore for a two-well appraisal drilling campaign on the Etinde licence for operator New Age (African Global Energy). The IM-6 well is expected to spud at the end of May to test the potential of the Intra Isongo play opened by the IM-5 well in 2012. The Topaz Driller has been contracted for 150 days.