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Following the excitement over Ghana’s Jubilee field development and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’sVenusfind off Sierra Leone, Vanco Energy Company’s plans to spud a well offshore Côte d’Ivoire in late December will beclosely watched. The failure ofAnadarko’s South Grand Lahou-1 wildcat in Block CI-105,meansVanco’s Orca 1-x well – to bedrilled in water depth of 1,827 metres, to a total depth of 3,661 metres on the deepwater Block CI-401 bordering Ghana – willbe a test of Côte d’Ivoire’s ability to join Ghana in attracting investors to theWest AfricanTransform Margin.

Petroleum Agency of South Africa (Pasa) has announced two awards following a licensing round earlier this year.

Gazprom has announced a start date for work on the long-awaited Kudu gas-to-power project, and NamPower has raised more funds in the domestic market, boosting confidence in Namibia’s ability to meet domestic demand and play a significant role in the regional industry, write Thalia Griffiths in Cape Town and Kevin Godier

Gabon is hoping to tap its pre-salt potential with its tenth licensing round due to open on 4 May offering 42 deepwater blocks (AE 162/1). The round has been expected for some time but has been delayed by political developments.

The Orca and Tweneboa results will be highly significant for Ivorian Lebanese architect Pierre Fakhoury, who has just acquired 3D seismic on his highly prospective deepwater Block CI-100, which lies immediately south of CI-401 adjacent to Côte d’Ivoire’s border with Ghana. He will need a farm-in partner to finance a well but is dragging his feet, reluctant to surrender his independence. Fakhoury designed the huge basilica in the political capital of Yamoussoukro for Côte d’Ivoire’s late president Félix Houphouët-Boigny, and was more recently awarded a series of infrastructure contracts for the expansion of Abidjan port and for new government buildings in Yamoussoukro.

Norway’s Spectrum has signed an agreement with the state Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Stratégiques (Omnis) to reprocess 6,000 line km of seismic data. The surveys include data offshore the west, south, and east coasts, and are located over the Morondava and Majunga basins, Cap Sainte-Marie and Ile Sainte-Marie.

The state’s Instituto Nacional de Petróleo (INP) has launched a fourth licensing round, offering seven onshore areas.

Sterling Energy has sold its producing US assets for $90m, enabling it to clear its debt. The UK-based company plans to focus on higher impact opportunities in Africa and the Middle East,

Mogadishu-based Transitional Federal Government (TFG) prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke has said that all contracts, including energy contracts, signed by the semi-autonomous Republic of Puntland,

San Leon-Island merger proposal; Ultra-deep Transocean drillship starts work off Angola

Despite international condemnation of the killing of scores of unarmed protesters, Guinea has attracted a credible offshore farm-in partner in Dana Petroleum, write Thalia Griffiths and our Conakry correspondent. But can IOCs overlook the country’s governance record, or will China’s promised infrastructure package win the day?

Petroceltic reports higher flows from Isarene well; Successful Al-Amir appraisal; More time for Verenex/LIA talks; AuDAX signs Chorbane LoI with DNO International

Oil find on Block 17/06; Aseng FPSO contract award; Anadarko starts onshore drilling; Acergy contract for Escravos gas

Voyageur Oil and Gas Corporation and state-owned partner Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières (Etap) may have discovered reserves of unconventional gas

Legislation currently before parliament aims to bring greater clarity to a licensing process regarded as opaque and overly dependent on the president, writes Jon Marks, recently in Kinshasa