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Poland’s Kulczyk Oil Ventures (KOV) has agreed to buy Canadian minnow Winstar Resources in a cash and shares deal valuing Winstar at C$112m ($110.8m). KOV is 49.99% owned by Kulczyk Investments, founded by London-based Polish businessman Jan Kulczyk, who owns 10% of Ophir Energy and has been looking for North African opportunities.

Range Resources has proposed an all-share merger with Frank Timis’ International Petroleum to create a company focused on Trinidad, Russia and onshore Africa. The merger would offer three Range ordinary shares for every two International Petroleum ordinary shares, valuing International Petroleum at some A$105m (US$108m). International Petroleum has assets in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Niger, while Range has assets in Puntland and a main focus in Trinidad and Texas.

Energy and mines minister Youcef Yousfi led a high-level delegation of officials to London on 15 April, including senior executives from Sonatrach, Sonelgaz and regulator Agence Nationale pour la Valorisation des Ressources en Hydrocarbures (Alnaft). Yousfi’s visit was arranged as part of a UK government initiative to improve economic ties with Algeria. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has named the minister as his economic representative to the UK in response to Prime Minister David Cameron’s appointment of Lord Risby as the UK’s trade envoy to Algeria. Cameron has named envoys for each of the North African states.

Driving renewable energy projects forward in Libya and Algeria will be difficult for the foreseeable future. Neither country is yet close to having the necessary legislation in place to enable serious progress towards shifting power generation away from hydrocarbons. But in spite of this a number of deals are moving forwards and European governments are pushing hard to open opportunities for investment. Over the past month the UK government has supported events in both Algiers and Tripoli intended to promote opportunities for businesses to access renewable energy projects.

Dublin-based Petroceltic International has closed a $500m financing agreement with the International Finance Corporation and a syndicate comprising HSBC, Nedbank and Standard Chartered Bank. The facility, replacing a $300m bridge loan from HSBC in 2012 which supported the company’s merger with Melrose Resources, has been negotiated over the past three months. According to a source close to the deal, security in Algeria was not the most important hurdle to overcome although it was a concern in the immediate aftermath of the January terrorist attack at In Aménas.

A recent report by the Ministry of Finance indicates that the new Exploration and Production Bill has been submitted to the Attorney General for final comments and will be put to parliament in the near future. The law, whose drafting began in 2010, aims to provide a comprehensive legal framework for the oil and gas industry to replace the 1984 law, creating a new regulator and transforming Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) into a commercial entity. The slow pace of drafting has been criticised because the new regulatory framework comes more than two years after Ghana started to produce oil.

After 15 months of impasse, Sudan’s Ministry of Oil has announced that initial quantities of crude from South Sudan have reached its territory in line with a co-operation agreement signed on 12 March. Under-secretary at the Ministry of Oil Awad Abdul Fatah told AFP that “we’re really in a hurry to do things quickly” and “we’d like for the money to start flowing as soon as possible”. South Sudan suspended oil production in January 2012 in protest at unreasonable transit fees charged on its exports on the way to Port Sudan by the government in Khartoum. The blockage has cost both countries heavily.

Tullow is seeking indemnification from Heritage Oil & Gas over capital gains tax it paid to the Ugandan government in 2010. The dispute dates back to Tullow’s acquisition of Heritage’s rights and interests in two Ugandan petroleum exploration areas in the Lake Albert Rift Basin, blocks 1 and 3A, for $1.45m almost three years ago. The Ugandan Revenue Authority (URA) levied a $404m tax on the transaction, for which Heritage said it was not liable, and Tullow ended up paying.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s hydrocarbons prospects are so attractive that a few companies remain apparently unconcerned about the lack of regulatory structure for the industry or bloody Mai Mai and other insurgencies that might upset their operations. Canada-based Alberta Oilsands and Pan African Oil in January signed a production-sharing agreement to explore Block 5 (Kalembie) and Block 6 (Fatuma) on Lake Tanganyika. Pan African chief executive Gary Wine told African Energy the companies were “basically in a memorandum of understanding stage at the moment”.

Companies with uncommercial exploration commitments may be able to annul contracts without penalty following the second anniversary of the revolution. Companies which have yet to lift force majeure on their EPSA IV contracts may be able to take advantage of a clause stipulating automatic termination if force majeure is in place after two years. One Libya-based manager said: “Some companies have decided to stay with the force majeure notification and probably even terminate their contracts”.

Exports of gas to Italy via the Greenstream pipeline resumed on 10 March after an eight-day shutdown precipitated by armed clashes between rival militias from Zintan and Zuwara. This was the most serious in a number of rivalries between officially appointed security personnel and other local groups that have led to expensive shut-ins at oil and gas installations and delayed the restart of exploration programmes. Even after the National Army took control of the site, it still took some days for gas flows to restart.

fren affiliate Gasol has launched a multi-tranche, unsecured bond of up to $100m to fund initial development work for its liquefied natural gas import project in Benin. The first $20m tranche has been placed with institutional investors. The bond has an interest rate of 10%/yr and a maturity of three years. Any subsequent tranches will be subject to investor appetite.

Oil workers’ union Organisation Nationale des Employés du Pétrole (Onep) has launched fresh strike action over demands that the government bring in tough local content terms. The union voted on 9 March for an unlimited general strike after the failure of talks with the government. Onep is also demanding the reinstatement of 17 local Schlumberger employees sacked over strike action.

Deep-water explorer Ophir Energy is raising £553m ($826m) through a share placing and rights issue to fund a programme of ten to 15 wells this year targeting 1.3bn boe of resources. The London Stock Exchange-listed company’s extensive acreage holdings have started to deliver results, particularly in Tanzania, where it has discovered significant offshore gas reserves in partnership with BG Group, but also offshore Equatorial Guinea, where it is looking for a partner to bring a string of gas discoveries into production.

The Islamic Development Bank signed a $200m loan agreement on 11 February to support the construction of the 45MW M’Dez and 125MW El Menzel hydroelectric power stations. The two plants form the M’Dez El Menzel complex, which is a key development for the Upper Sebou River.