Search results

Following several gas discoveries at the Mukuyu-2 well on the ambitious Australian minnow’s Cabora Bassa project, Invictus Energy and local partner One Gas Resources have revised a 2019 gas memorandum with local developers planning to build a 500MW gas-fired power plant.

Equinor’s proposed sale of its Nigerian operations to a local buyer adds to a growing trend for IOCs to withdraw from the  upstream sector, allowing domestic players to step in, even if access to finance and other obstacles may still need to be overcome, writes James Gavin.

Italian major Eni has blazed a trail back into Libya that numerous international oil companies are now following. Even if the risks on re-entry remain severe at many levels, the lure of unprecedented, if controversial, opportunities may be impossible to resist.

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) is set to double its stake in the Mnazi Bay gas development from 20% to 40%, under a new agreement signed with Maurel & Prom (M&P).

Petralon Energy founder and chief executive Ahonsi Unuigbe has told African Energy he is on a mission to boost the role of indigenous companies in an oil and gas sector that accounts for 90% of Nigeria’s exports.

The final COP28 communiqué included – for the first time – a commitment to eventually phase out fossil fuels, going beyond previous declarations that focused on coal. However, there are few signs that Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members and their Opec+ allies, led by Russia, have any intention of allowing their core source of revenues to disappear anytime soon. So what can we learn from recent statements by oil producers – including Opec+’s quota commitments at a meeting on 30 November – and from leaks and comments made during COP28?

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) was not the only national oil giant to lever its agenda into the climate discussions at COP28 in Dubai. Among the other interlopers was National Oil Corporation (NOC), whose chairman Farhat Bengdara told journalists that Libya will increase oil production from 1.2m b/d now to 2m b/d in the next three to five years.

London AIM-listed Helium One has said it will spud the Itumbula well in early January 2024, marking the start of a 30-day drilling programme.

Chevron could sign a production-sharing contracts for offshore blocks EG-06 and EG-11 with national oil company GEPetrol in the coming weeks, the government said as Equatorial Guinea prepares for its biggest US investor to pull out.

Energean’s farm-in to Chariot’s Moroccan licences gives a boost to development prospects for the offshore Anchois gas field, while handing LSE-listed Energean a valuable foothold in Atlantic coast acreage.

UK independent Afentra said on 8 December it had completed the acquisition of a 14% interest in Block 3/05 and a 40% interest in Block 23 from national oil company Sonangol.

ExxonMobil has provided an update on the expected start date for front-end engineering and design (Feed) work on the 18m t/yr Rovuma liquefied natural gas (RLNG) development in Cabo Delgado. The United States supermajor also said it was undertaking a security assessment in partnership with TotalEnergies, as it targets an exit from force majeure.

The UAE has had to deal with some unwelcome scrutiny of its energy strategy after the COP28 climate conference opened in Dubai on 30 November. Observers had long warned that holding such an event in the world’s seventh largest oil producer was likely to lead to friction and so it has proved. African Energy’s sister publication Gulf States Newsletter (GSN) gives a view from the region, including a roundup of the big pledges made in a ‘transactional’ first week.

War-torn but entrepreneurial Somalia is edging back towards normality, at last securing membership of the East African Community and reporting some progress in tackling Al-Shabaab militants. The government also has longer-term ambitions to exploit ample renewable energy potential and offshore oil and gas resources, writes Dominic Dudley.

A fresh wave of drilling activity underscores expectations of another strong year for the Namibian upstream, even as state oil company Namcor posts a loss.