Poorer members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which obtained loans to be paid back with oil, are currently conveying three times more than expected so as to respect repayment schedules as the prices of crude oil has dropped, Reuters reports. Due to this, the finances of countries like Angola, Nigeria, Venezuela and Iraq have been weakened since the loan were obtained...

Sound Energy on Tuesday announced that the first Tendrara well onshore Morocco has now been spud to the third and final casing point at a measured vertical depth of 2475 metres.This is coming a week after the company announced that it has drilled the well to the second casing point at a measured vertical depth of 1316 metres. According to Sound, the operation to set and cement the 7" casing in...

The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu (photo), has revealed the Federal Government is planning to end the importation of fuel in the country by 2019. According to Kachikwu, the current plan by the Government is for the importation of petroleum product to have reduced by 60% by December 2018. “For the first time, I am putting so much strength in terms of...

South Sudan’s national Minister of Petroleum in the Transitional Government of National Unity, Dak Duop Bichiok, has announced that his ministry is doing everything possible to make sure that oil production in the country increases by July 2016. According to him, a 21 member team has been set up to work on the process of increasing the oil production. The team will begin with the execution of...

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), South-Africa’s pension fund manager, is forming a consortium of black investors to buy a stake in Barclay’s African unit, Bloomberg reported on May 23. “There are discussions with institutional investors managing black money, such as pension funds,” Dan Matjila, head of Africa’s biggest fund manager, the PIC, said. “We don’t have the...

African economies should grow, in average, by 3.7% in 2016 before climbing to 4.5% in 2017, as resilient private consumption and investment offsets the effect of a slump in commodity prices and global headwinds, the African Development bank (AfDB) said on May 23, 2016 in a report. Published in the framework of the 51st annual general assembly of AfDB, the report entitled “economic outlook in...

Circle Oil Plc, is currently planning to farm-out its 40% interest in North West Gemsa field in Egypt.This is coming days after the company announced the completion of the 2016 infill drilling campaign on the field. The concession, which includes Geyad, Al Amir, Al Amir SE, and Al Ola, is operated by PetroAmir, a joint venture between EGPC and ZhenHua Oil with 50%, Circle Oil with 40% and SDX...

As part of efforts to ensure EU’s energy security, EU Commission spokesperson for Climate Action and Energy, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen (photo), has announced that Algeria will continue to be European Union’s main partner as regards the supply of gas. “Estimations of the EU gas consumption, whatever was the scenario, show that Europe will remain a great gas market and will import from other...

Petroceltic International in its operational update announced that development drilling on the Ain Tsila gas and condensate field in Algeria, has been successfully completed. The development well AT-13 began drilling on April 20, 2016 and on May 14, 2016 it was drilled to a total depth of 2020 meters, encountering 73 meters of gas and condensate.The result obtained from the wireline showed...

Iran has begun the shipment of excess natural gas deliveries as liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. According to the export-import director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC), Esmaeel Hasham Firouz, the country exported more than 127,000 tons of LNG in 2015 and that will increase this year. Iran has the world’s second largest proven...