Pura Vida Energy has been granted a 12-month extension to the current exploration phase of the Nkembe production sharing contract, offshore Gabon. According to the company, the extension will run till January 2018 with no further work commitments. The Australian oil exploration company which holds a 100% interest in the Nkembe production sharing contract, which contains the Loba oil discovery...

The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu (photo), has announced that the country plans to establish an independent agency to control the gas industry. According to the Minister, the government would continue to be the policy maker but the new independent petroleum regulatory authority would be created and provided with adequate capacity to regulate the...

Royal Dutch Shell has appointed Peter Costello (photo, right) as its new Vice President for Nigeria and Gabon. Peter Costello succeeds Markus Droll who has been the Vice President since 2013. He transferred to Shell after the merger with BG in June 2016. “I come to Nigeria with high hopes of what we can do to build on the excellent work that I’ve met on the ground. Shell Companies in...

Honeywell Oil and Gas Limited on Thursday, said it has changed its business name to HOGL Energy Limited.According to the indigenous oil and gas marketing companies within and outside Nigeria, consistent with the change, the company’s logo, website and email addresses would change effective from September 15, 2016, while all other details and organizational structure would stay unchanged, Punch...

Drilling operations on the Kito prospect in the Kilosa-Kilombero licence in Tanzania which were initially scheduled for Q3 of 2016, are currently in doubts due to disputes amongst partners on the project. The operator of the prospect, Swala Energy, in March announced that all measures have been put in place for drilling activities to begin on the licence in Q3 of 2016 with the recent feasibility...

ExxonMobil is putting an October 8 to 16 loading cargo of Nigeria's Qua Iboe crude oil on offer at a prize of $1.80 per barrel, according to sources. This is the first offer since the company declared force majeure on Nigeria's largest export stream in July, due to a leak on the pipeline that feeds the oil to the export terminal. It is however unclear if the pipeline has been refurbished,...

Nigeria spent N595.5 billion on the importation of fuel in the first six months of 2016, an increase of N34.3 billion compared to the amount spent in the last six months of 2015, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According to the Agency, the country spent N276.226 billion on petrol import in Q1 of 2016 and N319.28 billion in Q2 of this year. The report showed that...

Qatar Petroleum has shown interest in Eni’s Mozambique gas business and might decide to join Exxon Mobil in acquiring a stake as the Italian company looks to sell 5 billion euros of assets over the next two years, according to sources. Eni intends to reduce its stake by 50% in the giant Mozambique gas acreage. Last month Exxon signed a deal that could grant it an operating interest in the...

Sterling Energy plc has announces that it has formally surrendered the Ntem Concession, offshore Cameroon.According to the company, its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sterling Cameroon Limited, has issued a notice of surrender in relation to the Ntem Concession where it operates with 100% interest. The AIM listed oil and gas exploration company revealed that the surrender will be effective by the end...

In Egypt, BG has postponed activities at some development projects in the country; following its inability to come to an agreement over the price of gas with the government. The development areas include several deepwater wells in the West Nile Delta in Egypt. “BG has stopped work at 9A+ and 9B after failure to reach an agreement on the fixed price to be paid for extracted gas, and it...