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ASX-listed Invictus Energy and Sable Chemical Industries have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for gas supply from the Cabora Bassa project in Zimbabwe subject to a commercial discovery being made. Sable is the sole manufacturer of agriculture grade ammonium nitrate fertiliser in Zimbabwe and a potentially large gas consumer.

Operator Anadarko has failed to find hydrocarbons with the Kifaru-1 well on the Rovuma Onshore concession. Partner Wentworth Resources said Kifaru-1 was drilled to a total depth of 3,100 metres in Eocene-age rocks. The well encountered all targeted zones in the Miocene, Oligocene and Eocene formations but failed to find an economic reservoir and, as a result, the well has been plugged and abandoned. The well completes the partners’ drilling obligations for the block. The preceding well on the block, Tembo-1, found 11 metres of gas pay in December, and the partners are evaluating their options.

Eni’s gas discovery at the Nour North Sinai concession about 50km offshore Sinai will revive speculation that the company could soon be developing another large gas field similar in scale to Zohr, the deep-water field which transformed the prospects of Egypt’s upstream sector when it was found in 2015. On 14 March, Eni said that its Nour-1 wildcat well had intersected 33 metres of gross sandstone pay with good petrophysical properties and an estimated gas column of 90 metres in the Oligocene Tineh formation.

Contrary to most expectations and also to the recommendation of its board of directors, shareholders in London-quoted but Dublin-based Petroceltic International rejected an offer for their shares from activist shareholder Worldview Capital Management. The company’s fate will now be decided in early May when the court-appointed examiner – effectively an administrator – has called for ‘best and final offers’ for the company. Media reports have suggested that international oil companies may be interested in the company’s onshore Egypt and Algeria assets.

National Oil Company of Liberia (Nocal) has signed a multi-year well data management agreement with Core Laboratories Sales BV in an attempt to revive its offshore oil and gas exploration efforts. Speaking at the 1 August signing ceremony, Nocal chief executive Saifuah-Mai Gray said the agreement signalled a new era for the sector, which had been dormant for the past three years. “A key mandate of the Nocal Act involves the management of data which represents a major income stream for Nocal.

Oranto Petroleum has been granted a renewal on its OPL 293, giving it additional time to find partners to explore and develop the block. Oranto said the Ministry of Petroleum Resources had granted the extension on 9 October; the renewal had been pending since 2012. The block was initially granted to Oranto in 2007.

Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) has awarded four out of the 12 blocks in its most recent licensing round, with BP taking the largest share and Eni, Edison and Total also participating. The results of the round suggest that a trio of key players in the Egyptian offshore are building up large portfolios of acreage in strategic locations. The new licences are located between the coast and the large deep offshore blocks previously awarded to BP, Eni and Edison, including Eni’s Shorouk, where it made its large Zohr discovery in September.

GE on 13 March announced an order to supply a 200MW combined-cycle power plant for the Amandi Energy project in Aboadze. The turnkey plant will be powered by GE’s 9E.04 gas turbines, running initially on light crude oil, and switching to gas from Ghana’s offshore Sankofa natural gas field once it comes on stream in 2018. GE will also provide the steam turbine, heat recovery steam generator and balance of plant. The order follows financial close for the project announced in December (AE 337/1), and an engineering, procurement and construction contract announced in March 2016 with GE and Greek contractor Metka (AE 321/6).

A cabinet meeting on 19 September approved asking parliament to withdraw a long-delayed bill amending the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), which has been under discussion since December 2012. Withdrawal of the amendment bill, which had been heavily criticised by the oil industry, will allow for oil and gas to be separated from mining and given their own law, a solution that will be widely welcomed by upstream petroleum companies.

GE signed an agreement on 19 March to build a turbine manufacturing facility in the eastern province of Batna, as a condition for winning a massive $2bn turbine supply contract (AE 260/6). The $400m complex, to be developed in partnership with Algeria’s Sonelgaz, will give GE a dominant position in the local market as Algeria seeks to develop its energy capacity. The facility will start operating in 2017, producing six to eight turbines and associated control systems each year, with a total capacity of 2,000MW.

Questions of what the state can expect to take from big-ticket schemes, the degree of control it should exert over foreign direct investment and the scale of domestic market obligations required have dogged projects for years. The government confidently expects that deep-water gas developments and other hydrocarbons schemes will go ahead despite its 4 July law changes, but widespread perceptions of a deteriorating business environment raise further questions about the viability of plans to develop a major export liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, using reserves which include deep-water finds in the Mafia Basin.

The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Ophir Energy, Golar-Schlumberger joint venture OneLNG and GEPetrol have named Gunvor Group as their preferred offtaker from the Fortuna floating liquefied natural gas project. All parties have agreed the main commercial terms subject to finalising a sale and purchase agreement for the offtake ahead of the final investment decision (FID) on the Fortuna FLNG project, expected later this year.Gunvor is committed to taking the full contract capacity of the Gandria FLNG vessel of 2.2m t/yr, which will be purchased on a Brent-linked, free on board basis for a ten-year term.

Eni on 2 March announced the completion of a gas pipeline connecting the Bir Rebaa Nord (BRN) and Menzel Ledjmet Est fields in the Berkine Basin. The 185km, 16-inch pipeline has a transport capacity of 247mcf/d. It will also allow for the gathering and export of associated gas produced in Block 403 from Eni’s BRN and Bir Rebaa South West fields, as well as the development of new gas fields in three North Berkine blocks.

Sonatrach is planning a series of experimental wells this year and next as it attempts to lay the ground for future frontier exploration both into shale formations and the untested offshore. At the same time, it is also moving forward with enhanced recovery plans for oil and gas fields where production has been declining for some years. Taken together with the announcement of a five-year upstream investment plan worth more than $100bn, it appears that the authorities are reacting to intense criticism of the current energy strategy from former senior executives at Sonatrach.

Sound Energy has announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) for gas sales from the Tendrara concession in eastern Morocco. AIM-listed Sound put its eastern Morocco operations up for sale earlier this year after the first two wells of its 2018-19 eastern Morocco exploration campaign failed to achieve commercial gas flow rates.The MoU covers the first 0.5bcm/yr (about 48.4mcf/d) of production, with arrangements for production above this level to be negotiated in the final gas sales agreement (GSA).