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Edison International has won a tender to take over the offshore Abu Qir gas fields after agreeing to pay a signature bonus of $1.405bn. The Italian company said it had signed a 20-year concession agreement with Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) following an international tender in which 13 companies submitted offers.

With ExxonMobil looking for a rig to drill on its Ampasindava permit’s Sifaka prospect in H2 2009, the US giant’s 30% partner Sterling Energy is set to farm out part of its stake and thus reduce its share of the huge costs implied by working in the Madagascar offshore (AE 127/16). Industry sources put the well’s cost at some $180m-200m, which is likely to comfortably exceed Sterling’s remaining carry.

The Libyan government has created a new position of general manager at NOC to delegate much of the daily operational responsibility away from chairman Shukri Ghanem. The General People’s Committee appointed Ali Al-Saghir Mohammed Saleh, one of Libya’s senior exploration professionals, to the post on 1 December.

Canada’s Verenex Energy is battling against the credit crunch as it weighs up whether it can obtain financing to develop its multiple Ghadames Basin discoveries, or if it should sell up. The company, which recently published an updated assessment of resources in the area, has said that it expects to conclude a review of its strategic options in Q1 2009 (AE 150/14).

The emergence of a new Libyan fund as a vehicle for acquiring a substantial minority stake in Italy’s Eni shows the cash-rich Jamahiriya mobilising to take best advantage of the global financial crisis, writes John Hamilton. The Libyan Energy Fund (LEF), an institution which has not acted publicly before now, on 6 December announced in a joint statement with the Italian government..

For all the region’s problems, Canadian minnow Africa Oil announced the completion of a 2D seismic survey in the Dharoor valley of Somalia’s breakaway Republic of Puntland on 3 December. A total of 782km of vibroseis data, comprising a grid of 15 lines, were recorded by the UK’s IMC Geophysical. “Mapping of this combined survey should commence in early 2009 and drilling locations will be selected before the end of Q1 09,” the company said. This should permit mobilisation of a drilling rig before end-2009.

Sonatrach postponed the bid opening for the seventh licensing round from 3 December, to 13 December, the state company announced just ahead of the planned event. An Algerian source close to the bidding told African Energy “the delay was due to agenda reasons”, with key officials preoccupied with the run-up to the 17 December OPEC meeting in Oran and other commitments

Are Algeria's ambitious energy sector plans feasibile?

Central Europeans look to Africa for energy security, with increasing interest in North African projects from Central European oil companies

Dana Petroleum is currently drilling the Akhenaton-1 well, in the South October concession in the Gulf of Suez. Results are expected by mid-December, after which the IO3 rig will move to the SE July concession, where the SE July-1 well is expected

AIM-listed Afren has farmed down a stake in the Keta block to Japan’s Mitsui group and has spudded a well on the block. Afren spudded the Cuda-1 well on 16 November targeting Cretaceous deep-water sandstone reservoirs.

The Polisario Front liberation movement’s government-in-exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) has put back the closing date for its second licensing round to 31 March (AE 131/16).

Angola’s licensing round remains on hold, with no indication of when it will be revived, but Sonangol sees a strong project pipeline in the coming years, with investment of $4bn-5bn/yr for the next decade, writes Thalia Griffiths. Angola has placed its 2007/08 licensing round on hold but is confident of maintaining production with plenty of new projects lining up for development. Over the next ten years, Sonangol expects investment of $40bn-$50bn, or $4bn-$5bn/yr,

Tullow Oil’s Ebony-1 exploration well in the Shallow Water Tano licence has intersected two hydrocarbon bearing intervalsin Late Cretaceous turbidite sands. Ebony-1 spudded on 22 October and reached a total depth of 2,640 metres. The well lies in the south-west part of the Shallow Water Tano block in 86 metres of water and is the second commitment well in thelicence. The first well, 1N-3X, was plugged and abandoned last year. Logging and sampling operations confirmed a four-metre oil bearing interval at 2,053 metres and a two metre high-pressure gas-condensate interval at 2,570 metres.

Ugandan President seeks Nigerian oil expertise; Bahraini link up for Africa plays