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The governments of São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea have agreed to establish a joint exploration zone and to develop cross-border oil and gas reserves that may lie in the blocks bordering each country’s national waters.A statement on 18 March said the decision was taken during a meeting in Malabo between São Tomé minister of public works, infrastructures, natural resources and environment Osvaldo Abreu, and Equatorial Guinea minister of mines and hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima.

Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) has launched a tender for a third floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at Ain Sokhna with capacity of 750mcf/d. Petroleum and mineral resources minister Tarek El-Molla said Egypt was importing some 1.1bcf/d, and the addition of a third FSRU would increase imports to 1.95bcf/d.

Houston-based Endeavor Energy has pushed back financial close on the Songon gas-to-power project to the end of Q3 2016 from its previous target of December 2015. Songon is a multi-phase combined-cycle power project with purpose-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) import infrastructure and a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), generating 375MW in its first phase. Endeavor entered into a joint development agreement with local partner Starenergie 2073 last year, for Endeavor to take a majority interest in Starenergie and lead the development of the project.

UK-based developer Globeleq and the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development-owned Industrial Promotion Services (West Africa) announced on 7 March that they had signed an amended concession agreement with the government for a 250MW expansion to the Azito gas power plant near Abidjan. Financial close is expected in June 2019.Alongside the expansion, a technical upgrade being implemented this year will add 30MW to the existing 430MW, meaning that the expanded facility will generate 710MW, or around 30% of Côte d’Ivoire’s installed capacity.

Invictus Energy has signed a preliminary agreement for gas supply from its Cabora Bassa project in Muzarabani, as it seeks an upstream partner to establish whether commercial quantities of gas can be produced from the licence. Invictus announced on 19 December it had entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IPP developer Tatanga Energy to progress gas supply for a 500MW gas-to-power plant in the event of a commercial gas discovery from its SG 4571 licence.

African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) on 29 January announced it has acquired a minority stake in the 192MW Amandi thermal power project. The investment is being made through its African Infrastructure Investment Fund 3 (AIIF3), which has purchased the entire shareholding of the Rontom Trust, one of the companies controlled by the project’s original founders.

President João Lourenço has signed decrees setting out specific terms to regulate the exploration and production of natural gas and halving tax rates for the development of marginal fields as the new government seeks to maximise earnings from hydrocarbons. The decrees were published in the Official Gazette on 18 May. The gas decree replaces the general principles that previously governed natural gas, under which associated gas had to be made available to Sonangol while non-associated gas could be developed on terms to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG) has agreed to acquire Glencore’s operated stake in the Matanda Block, adjacent to its Logbaba permit. The block includes the North Matanda gas field. VOG said on 18 February it would acquire Glencore Exploration Cameroon’s 75% interest in the Matanda production-sharing contract and take over the operatorship via its subsidiary Gaz du Cameroun (GDC) Matanda. In exchange, VOG will take over responsibility for a work programme to be agreed with the government. The assignment of the stake is conditional on this being agreed, and on other customary government approvals.

Africa Oil Corporation’s South African subsidiary has farmed into Block 3B/4B in the Orange Basin, taking 20% from Azinam as interest grows in South Africa and Namibia’s exploration potential following Total’s Brulpadda discovery. Operator Ricocure will retain its 60% interest. Block 3B/4B covers 17,581km2 in water depths ranging from 300 to 2,500 metres on an emerging regional mid-Cretaceous oil play. An inventory of leads and prospects has been identified from an existing 10,020km2 3D survey covering the majority of the block.

Nigeria LNG signed a 20-year gas supply agreement with its joint venture partners Shell, Total and Eni on 13 December for the long-awaited Nigeria LNG Train 7 project. NLNG said the signing was one of the key conditions for a final investment decision on the project, which will raise capacity at NLNG from 22m t/yr to 30m t/yr. “It is time for gas. Beyond the changing energy mix, we have seen countries like Qatar ride on the back of gas to development.

On 24 July, the World Bank approved a $500m loan to expand the Egypt Natural Gas Connection project, reducing the number of homes using heavily subsidised imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The enhanced project is expected to cost nearly $1.5bn in total and aims to connect 2.4m households to the gas network in 11 governorates, including three in Upper Egypt. Fuel subsidies have accounted for 18-20% of recurrent expenditure in Egypt over the past few years, equivalent to 5-7% of gross domestic product. The government has been relying on $17bn of assistance pledged by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to pay the bills, of which $12bn has already been received.

Sonatrach and Spain’s Naturgy have agreed to buy Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala’s 42.09% stake in the Medgaz pipeline between Algeria and Spain. The transaction will mean that Sonatrach has 51% and Naturgy 49% of the pipeline, with a shareholder agreement giving them joint control. Sonatrach is already Spain’s biggest gas supplier by volume and Naturgy’s fourth largest shareholder with a 4% stake. A €67m ($75m) expansion of the Medgaz pipeline to increase capacity by 2bcm to 10bcm is due to be operational in 2021.

Total has begun supplying 100mcf/d of gas to the 504MW Alaoji power plant, as well as 200mcf/d to industrial consumers via its new Northern Option Pipeline (NOPL), part of the multi-billion dollar OML 58 upgrading project, which includes the 45km Obite-Ubeta-Rumuji (OUR) pipeline in Rivers State and expansion of the Obite Treatment Centre. The pipeline is supplying the full gas requirement of Alaoji, which is a national integrated power project.

On 17 January, senior officers from the Libyan National Army General Command and the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) of the Central and Eastern Regions instructed the managements of Sirte Oil Company (SOC), Harouge Oil Operations, Waha Oil Company, Zueitina Oil Company and Arab Gulf Oil Company to stop oil exports from the terminals at Marsa Al-Hariga, Zueitina, Marsa Al-Brega, Ras Lanuf and Sidra. National Oil Corporation (NOC) closed the ports, placing them under force majeure the next day.

Operator NewAge (African Global Energy) plans to spud the first of two appraisal wells on the Etinde permit in late Q2 targeting an additional 1-2tcf of gas. The first well, IM-6, will target the southern boundary of the Intra-Isongo Marine gas condensate field discovered by Bowleven’s IM-5 well in 2015. The main aim is to firm up the volume of petroleum resources in the field. Announcing its H1 results on 29 March, Bowleven said the gross contingent resources on a P50 (2C) basis of the various fields had been determined at 0.9tcf of gas with 95m barrels of condensate.