Africa.Exploration News


First oil off East Africa touted

Jun 17, 2014

BG Group has made the first oil discovery off East Africa, according to a partner on the Sunbird-1 exploration well.  Pancontinental Oil and Gas said a 14m gross oil column was found beneath a 2936m gross gas column in a reefal limestone…

Eni ups African presence

Jun 10, 2014

Eni has gained operatorship and a 40% interest in exploration right permit 236 (ER236) off the eastern coast of South Africa from Sasol, the Italian company announced today. Under the terms of the agreement, Eni has acquired 82,000sq…

ENI appraises Mozambique field

May 22, 2014

Eni says it has successfully executed the appraisal campaign for the Agulha discovery, located in Area 4 offshore Mozambique. Area 4 is now thought to contain about 85Tcf of gas in place. The delineation was carried out through the Agulha 2 well…

Plexus grows North Africa business

Apr 23, 2014

Oil and gas engineering services business Plexus Holdings has been awarded a contract with Galp Energia Tarfya to supply surface wellhead and mudline equipment services for an exploration well offshore Morocco. At its March capital markets day…

OMV takes Nigeria stake

Apr 03, 2014

OMV has taken another step into sub-Saharan Africa by entering an offshore exploration project offshore Namibia.  The transaction involves the acquisition of a 65%-interest petroleum exploration license (PEL) 046, containing exploration blocks 2613A and 2613B…

PSC agreed offshore Comoros

Mar 20, 2014

The National Assembly of the Comoros, a sovereign archipelago island nation east of Mozambiue, Africa, has ratified a production sharing contract with Bahari Resources. The PSC, covering offshore blocks 35, 36, and 37 (previously named blocks A…

East Africa remains hot property

Oct 09, 2013

Wood Mackenzie has predicted upstream investment in East Africa will reach US$7 billion by 2018. Martin Kelly, head of Sub Sahara Africa upstream research for Wood Mackenzie, told delegates at the East Africa Oil and Gas Conference today…

Eni makes Mozambique discovery

Sep 04, 2013

Eni has made a new high impact discovery at Agulha exploration prospect, in Area 4, offshore Mozambique.The discovery opens a new exploration play in the southern part of Area 4. Preliminary estimates show that the Agulha structure could contain 5 to 7 Trillion cu ft of gas in place…

Colloquy: Exploration Fabric of Africa

Jul 10, 2013

Colloquy: Editor’s Column The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) has developed a new African exploration GIS database, as the Edward G. Purdy Memorial Project, honoring the late geologist (b. 4 December 1931, d. 13 October…

Cairn enters Senegal

Mar 21, 2013

Cairn Energy PLC announce it will farm-in as operator of three blocks offshore Senegal in West Africa. This transaction will add a number of drillable prospects to the frontier exploration inventory and drilling program in the next 18 months…

Statoil signs up deepwater rigs

Mar 15, 2013

Statoil has signed a three year contract for the Stena Carron drillship for exploration drilling in the pre-salt blocks (Blocks 38 and 39) in the Kwanza basin in Angola.The agreement managed by Stena Drilling is for a three-year fixed term with start-up Q4 2013 / Q1 2014…

Durban study

Jan 01, 2013

ExxonMobil has acquired a 75% stake in Impact Africa’s Tugela South Exploration Right off the eastern coast of South Africa.ExxonMobil has also secured a one-year permit to study the hydrocarbon potential of the deepwater Durban Basin, which covers approximately 12.4 million acres.

ExxonMobil makes S. Africa splash

Dec 18, 2012

ExxonMobil acquires 75% stake in Durban BasinTugela South Exploration RightExxonMobil is set to explore the deepwater Durban Basin offshore South Africa after acquiring 75% stake in the Tugela South Exploration Right, the company announced on 17 December 2012…

ExxonMobil will operate Tugela off South Africa

Dec 17, 2012

ExxonMobil Exploration and Production South Africa Ltd. will soon begin exploration activities offshore South Africa. The ExxonMobil affiliate signed an agreement with Impact Africa Ltd. (Impact), a subsidiary of Impact Oil & Gas Ltd…

Gertjan van Mechelen joins ERHC Energy as exploration manager

Oct 12, 2012

Gertjan van Mechelen has joined ERHC Energy as exploration manager. Previously with ConocoPhillips and TransAtlantic Petroleum, he will oversee the company’s Africa-focused exploration activities.

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