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TotalEnergies has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sonatrach on further developing natural gas resources in the Timimoun region, where the French major has existing interests, while an LNG supply contract has been extended by another year.

The hydrocarbons-focused Africa Energy Bank’s promoters Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers Organisation are looking to a start-up this year for an institution with an initial capital base of $5bn.

SDX Energy has spudded the Beni Malek-2 (BMK-2) well in the Rharb Basin. The London AIM-listed company has reported an ‘immediate and increasing’ local demand for its gas in Morocco.

The estimated $1bn EPC deal for the Banda and Tevet fields, which hold combined estimated reserves of 2.2tcf, is the first involvement by Egyptian players in Mauritania’s upstream and marks the revival of Nouakchott’s long-held plans to supply gas to its flagship Banda Duale power plant.

Prospects are improving for the introduction of carbon capture and storage into gas production projects as the Egyptian authorities have shifted to a more positive stance on CCS technology, encouraged by their financial backers in the Gulf.

First exported in 1964 from a then Royal Dutch/Shell project in Algerian hub Arzew, liquefied natural gas (LNG) was sometimes thought a marginal product during oil’s heyday. But over the past two decades it has come to be seen as an increasingly important energy transition fuel; its consumption produces around half the CO2 emissions of coal.

The 2.4m t/yr first phase of the cross-border Mauritania/Senegal Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas development has once again been delayed. Kosmos chief executive Andrew Inglis said the latest setback stemmed from GTA’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel requiring further repairs in Tenerife, following damage incurred during its journey from Qidong, China.

Slow progress at some of sub-Saharan Africa’s most high-profile LNG developments come as exporters from other parts of the world race to sign new long-term deals with buyers from Asia and Europe. The risk for African producers is that they could miss out on lucrative opportunities, costing governments large amounts in lost foreign earnings, writes Marc Howard*.

Algeria is squeezing whatever gas it can out of the system for export and Morocco is looking at different options for its smaller reserves, but Libya and Egypt face bigger challenges still, with the bare minimum export LNG leaving Egyptian terminals this year.

Commissioning of Geometric’s 141MW Aba gas-to-power plant adds sorely-needed on-grid capacity.  Selling to its own ringfenced distribution network, Aba also points to a potential new model of vertical integration. Meanwhile, the Tinubu government’s bold macro reforms have contributed to a significant economic crisis. It is nonetheless pushing on with efforts to repay $2.16bn owed to IPPs, although some question where the money will come from, write Leonard Lawal in Lagos and Marc Howard.

A first cargo of liquefied natural gas has left the Litchendjili LNG terminal in Pointe-Noire, following a rapid development by Eni and national oil company SNPC.

UAE-owned Guinea Alumina Corporation’s 1m t/yr bauxite refining project is in addition to the similar-sized alumina refinery already planned by Société Minière de Boké in partnership with Alteo. Coming after Conakry demanded bauxite miners develop local value-adding facilities, these developments could add gigawatts to electricity demand and may require significant LNG imports.

New Lixus licence operator Energean expects the gas play’s speedy monetisation, with appraisal drilling slated for later this year at the 18bcm Anchois field. The project's developers point to considerable existing gas-to-power and industrial demand, while the nearby GME pipeline could allow for some modest export sales to Europe.

Italy’s Eni and London- and Tel Aviv-listed Energean may get the first results from their Orion well in the North East Hap’y offshore block within a month, it what could be a transformative discovery for Energean, while also providing an early indicator of Egypt’s future as a gas producer.

French energy major TotalEnergies plans to add 14,000 b/d of condensate output by mid-2024 and up to 4 mcm/d of gas by 2028 from the south-eastern Nigerian field.