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Energean’s farm-in to Chariot’s Moroccan licences gives a boost to development prospects for the offshore Anchois gas field, while handing LSE-listed Energean a valuable foothold in Atlantic coast acreage.

First exported in 1964 from a then Royal Dutch/Shell project in Algerian hub Arzew, liquefied natural gas (LNG) was sometimes thought a marginal product during oil’s heyday. But over the past two decades it has come to be seen as an increasingly important energy transition fuel; its consumption produces around half the CO2 emissions of coal.

The hydrocarbons-focused Africa Energy Bank’s promoters Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers Organisation are looking to a start-up this year for an institution with an initial capital base of $5bn.

US-based company West Africa LNG Group Inc signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Guinea on 8 March to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal to serve the industrial, mining and agro-processing sectors.Chief executive Cem Hacioglu told African Energy the import terminal would be sited in the Kamsar port region to supply planned bauxite processing plants and agricultural processing and packaging plants at a new Special Economic Zone (SEZ) 50km inland at Boké.

Afren has sacked chief executive officer Osman Shahenshah and chief operating officer Shahid Ullah for gross misconduct following a review into the receipt of unauthorised payments by members of management and senior employees. In a 13 October statement, Afren said it had also sacked directors Iain Wright and Galib Virani for receiving payments in breach of the company’s approved remuneration policy. The review by Willkie Farr & Gallagher (WFG) found that Shahenshah and Ullah had paid themselves $17.1m in extraordinary bonuses out of funds transferred to a British Virgin Islands special purpose vehicle.

The award by Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) of 12 licences on 13 February saw companies extend their existing exploration interests into nearby blocks, with decisions primarily motivated by existing geological knowledge and proximity of operating infrastructure. An observer at the Egypt Petroleum Show in Cairo, where minister of petroleum Tarek El Molla announced the licences, described the mood as like a “goldrush”.

Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Burkina Faso to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) and build the infrastructure to import, store and transport it. Under the initial three-year agreement, both sides will negotiate an LNG sales and purchase agreement and a terminal use agreement. The MoU also calls for EG to explore and produce oil and gas in Burkina Faso.

Activist shareholder Worldview EHS International Master Fund’s 4 March petition to put Petroceltic International into examineeship – the Republic of Ireland’s approximate equivalent to Chapter 11 in the United States – immediately followed the rejection of its offer to buy the whole company for 3p per share – a substantial discount even on the currently much-reduced share price.

The Nawara gas field in southern Tunisia started production on 5 February. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said it was the country’s largest project with an investment value of 3.5bn dinars ($1.2bn).He said the 2.7mcm/d scheme represented a 50% increase in national gas production, which would reduce Tunisia’s energy deficit by 20% and cut the trade deficit by 7%. “Personally, it was one of the biggest challenges that we have worked on in the last three years,” he said.

Eni signed a co-operation agreement with Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas) on 17 October to strengthen their relationship in a number of areas, particularly in the upstream and liquefied natural gas (LNG) sectors. Eni said the agreement would allow the companies to jointly pursue opportunities worldwide. Eni and Kogas expect the co-operation agreement to facilitate the LNG development of Area 4 in Mozambique, where Eni is operator with a 50% indirect interest. Kogas, Galp Energia and the state Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos are partners in the agreement, with 10% interest each, while China National Petroleum Corporation has 20% indirect participation via a holding in Eni East Africa.

The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy invites expressions of interest from consultants by 23 May to assist the ministry’s National Directorate of Hydrocarbons and Fuels (DNHC) with promoting large-scale gas and power investments. The aim is to provide the DNHC with expertise for the formulation of policies, strategies, programmes, plans, regulatory tools and legislation to promote research, development, production, transportation, storage, distribution and commercialisation of hydrocarbons.

Denmark’s Haldor Topsøe has announced plans for a 2m t/yr fertiliser plant in Soyo in Zaire province using natural gas as feedstock, to supply Angola and the southern African region. The project is valued at $2bn and will take three years to build, chief executive Bjerne Clausen told reporters after meeting President João Lourenço. Local media quoted him as saying the project would create 4,000 direct jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs.

AIM-listed Sound Energy said on 18 April that a drilling rig was on the way to the Sidi Moktar licence, where it plans to re-enter two wells drilled by the previous licenceholder, Longreach Oil & Gas. Longreach discovered gas on the licence in 2014 but ran out of money before it could test the wells.The Sidi Moktar licences cover 2,700km2 in the Essaouira Basin of central Morocco close to existing infrastructure, including the state-owned Office Cherifien des Phosphates plant.

Victoria Oil & Gas subsidiary Gaz du Cameroun (GDC) is preparing to drill two additional wells into the onshore Logbaba field and has signed a rig contract with Savannah Oil Services Cameroon. Drilling is planned to start in late Q2 and complete by year-end. VOG described the budget for the two-well drilling programme as “less than $40m, significantly lower than initial estimates made in 2015”.

More than a month after energy and minerals minister Sospeter Muhongo promised the location of Tanzania’s planned liquefaction facility would be revealed in less than a week, no decision has been made public and rumours of an upcoming announcement swirl in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma. On 29 March, Nairobi-based daily The East African led with the story that BG Group and Statoil, both developing huge gas reserves in the country’s offshore Ruvuma Basin, had selected Likong’o-Mchinga as the best site for the project, adding provocatively that Mtwara, which was rocked by violent protests last year, had been left out in the cold.