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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.

Scarcely a month passes without an announcement that another large-scale power project has passed a milestone towards commissioning or financial close. The government has harnessed multilateral support for its own schemes and taken important steps towards creating a more commercial environment, including the reduction of some subsidies and the introduction of legislation to restructure the sector.

The positive impact of improved investor sentiment towards Egypt’s upstream is now being felt in terms of planned gas production increases that will come on stream starting in 2017. Buoyed by the return of investor optimism after several years during which many of the largest developments were on hold, the authorities are planning a series of licensing rounds this year. In a further strategic advance that could open new opportunities for the development of gas reserves, the government has approved a draft gas law, which must now be voted by parliament.

A joint venture agreement for the development of a 2,600km pipeline from northern Mozambique to Gauteng was signed in Maputo on 22 April by Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, Profin Consulting, China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, China Petroleum & Technology Development Corporation and Progas Investment Group.

Sonangol on 12 April made declarations of commerciality for three gas discoveries: the Lira well on Block 15/14 in the Lower Congo Basin, and Katambi-1 on Block 24/11 and Lontra-1 in Block 20/15, both in the Kwanza Basin.A presidential decree in June 2014 granted Sonangol the mining rights to develop and produce hydrocarbon gases in the Block 15/14 Lira concession area. Sonangol said that, in accordance with the Block 15/06 production-sharing agreement, it would start talks with Block 15/06 operator Eni on options for exploiting, developing and monetising the natural gas resource.

Edinburgh-based Bowleven has been awarded a one-year extension to the Bomono exploration licence, pending the final award of an Exploitation Authorisation. The application was submitted to the Cameroon authorities in December before the exploration licence expired, to enable development activities to go ahead. Approval has yet to be granted, but the extension ensures that the AIM-listed company’s interest in the acreage is maintained.

Sonatrach has given Amec Foster Wheeler a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for three new refineries located in Biskra, Tiaret and Hassi Messaoud. The three refineries will each have a capacity of 5m t/yr of Algerian crude oil and contain facilities for atmospheric distillation, liquefied petroleum gas separation, hydrocrackers, desulphurisation, bitumen production, utilities, blending, effluents treatment, control room and laboratories. The Biskra site will include lubrication oil facilities.

Parliament has ratified the award of the new Cape Three Points Block 4 exploration licence in the Tano Basin to Eni. The new block partially surrounds Eni’s Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) Block, where the Sankofa and Gye Nyame gas and oil discoveries are under development, and if a commercial discovery is made, the block will benefit from the OCTP infrastructure. The OCTP project will consist of subsea wells tied back to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel which will be connected to shore via a gas transport line.

The brutal takeover of Dublin-based and London-listed oil company Petroceltic International by activist shareholder Worldview Capital will test the extent to which the need for foreign investment now trumps Algeria’s resource nationalist instincts – which have driven much energy sector and broader economic policy-making over the past decade. Petroceltic’s shareholders have until 14 April to agree a proposal from a Worldview subsidiary which values the company at just $6.42m. The company’s board has recommended accepting the offer as the shares are otherwise likely to be worthless.

Japanese developers have started construction of the 240MW Kinyerezi II combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Dar es Salaam. Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems and Toshiba Plant Systems & Services are building the plant under an engineering, procurement and construction contract awarded by Tanzania Electric Supply Corporation. The plant will comprise six MHPS H-25 gas turbines, Toshiba heat recovery boilers and steam turbines, fuelled by gas from the Mnazi Bay field.

With Morocco embroiled in new controversies over the disputed Western Sahara and strongly aligned with Gulf states in Yemen and other conflicts, geopolitics was high on the agenda when King Mohammed VI visited Moscow in March. The visit was also notable for reports that the monarch had suggested Russian companies – almost certainly led by Gazprom – could be favoured in building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal at Jorf Lasfar, and other infrastructure that comprises Morocco’s integrated gas-to-power (GTP) plan.

Angola LNG and EDF Trading have announced a flexible sales arrangement for the delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes on an ex-ship basis from the ALNG plant in Soyo. The sales arrangement covers the delivery of multiple cargoes from 2016 to 2018 for supply into the European wholesale market.“This marks an important milestone for Angola LNG as it re-enters the market,” said Angola LNG Marketing chief executive Artur Pereira.

Dana Petroleum’s Manatee-1 exploration well on the Bakassi West Block failed to find oil but the partners are assessing a gas-bearing section. SDX Energy said the shallow water well in the Niger Delta Basin was drilled to a total depth of 1,447 metres and intersected 26 metres of gas-bearing section of varying quality. “Whilst we are disappointed not to have made an oil discovery, we recognised the risks associated with exploration wells of this kind. The secondary objective was to see whether we could make a commercially viable gas discovery.

Zimbabwe is highly unlikely to eradicate the crony capitalist structures that have favoured the Mugabe clan and other Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) grandees any time soon. But the president’s departure could favour a measured transition, building on initiatives to normalise the economy undertaken by regime officials such as Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya and Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) managing director Noah Fari Gwariro. Even at 92 years old, it seems imprudent to write off President Robert Mugabe, whose ruthless political cunning has seen off international sanctions and domestic challenges.

Aminex began gas production on 4 April from the Kiliwani North-1 well, which will deliver gas to the new adjacent Songo Songo processing plant for the local power market. Production is expected to build up to 25-30 mcf/d over the next 90-100 days and initial production rates will be managed to allow for testing and commissioning of the gas processing plant and pipeline. Together with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Aminex plans to conduct a well test during the production build-up to determine the optimal flow rate. This will become the commercial production rate and the company intends to flow gas at this rate for as long as possible before a natural decline in production. Aminex signed a gas sales agreement with TPDC in January.