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By Prospect Mejebi, in Owerri

Seplat Energy has announced the achievement of first gas from the 300Million standard cubic feet per day capacity (MMscf/d) ANOH gas project in the Eastern Niger Delta.

“Following completion of the 11kilometre Indorama gas export pipeline and receipt of regulatory approval from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), on Friday January 16 2026, ANOH Gas Processing Company (AGPC) commenced gas supply to Indorama, under a firm and interruptible off take Gas Sales Agreements (GSAs)”, Seplat says in a release.  “To enable the flow of gas, the four upstream wells, which had been on standby since November 2025, were brought online”.

The GSA calls for up to 80MMscf/d of gas from ANOH to Indorama Petrochemical Plant, Nigeria’s second largest Petrochemicals manufacturing facility(With a total production capacity. of 360,000 Tonnes of Ethylene and 120,000Tonnes of Polyethylene per annum, it comes a distant second to Dangote’s 900,000Tonnes of Polyethylene per annum).

“Since first gas, wet gas production has been stabilizing, delivering 40-52 MMscf/d of processed gas directly from the ANOH gas plant to the Indorama Petrochemical Plant”, Seplat reports. “Condensate production has reached between 2,000 and 2,500Barrels of Oil Equivalent per day (BOEPD) and is expected to increase with gas production as the plant ramps up to design capacity”.

The original plan was to evacuate over half of ANOH gas into the Nigerian market through the ObIafu-Obrikom-Oben(OB3) pipeline, but the eastern part of the pipeline, under construction by NNPC since 2014, has remained uncompleted.

For this inability to pump Nigerian gas into the Nigerian economy on account of sheer incompetence of the National Oil Company, the ANOH Gas project operators had to look towards export.

Seplat’s statement declares:  “Preparations are underway to initiate sales of processed gas to the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) with an offtake agreement structured on an interruptible basis and will support the gas plant to further scale production towards full design capacity of 300MMscf/d”.

The ANOH gas plant was developed by AGPC, an incorporated joint venture between Seplat Energy and the NGIC. The integrated plant consists of two 150 MMscf/d gas processing units, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) recovery units, condensate stabilization units, a 16MW power plant and other supporting facilities, and has been built to operate with zero routine flares.

Across the unitised field of Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 53 and OML 21, the ANOH gas plant unlocks an estimated 4.6Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) condensate rich gas resource base. Seplat’s working interest 2P reserves in the unitised field, as booked at year end 2024, stood at 0.8Tcf.  Seplat will derive value from two distinct income streams: wet gas sales from OML 53 to the ANOH gas plant, and dividends from its 50% equity ownership in AGPC.

Seplat’s release claims, without stating exact figures, that “the LPG produced from ANOH, combined with the LPG production at Sapele and the Bonny River Terminal (BRT), will make Seplat a leading supplier of clean cooking fuel to the domestic market”.

The statement adds that the ANOH gas plant will process the flared gas from the Ohaji field, enabling Seplat to achieve its onshore End of Routine Flaring programme, a key commercial and sustainability initiative for the company.

The ANOH gas plant has been developed without a single recordable Lost Time Incident (LTI) across 17.5Million-man hours, a testament to the focus of the whole team on safe and secure operations.

Italian major ENI has launched the Hull of the Coral North Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) vessel, a performative event, in line with the project’s schedule.

Coral North will be the second next-generation floating LNG facility to be located in the Rovuma basin, offshore Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, and will produce gas from the northern part of the Coral field on the Area 4 Licence in deepwater.

With a liquefaction production capacity of 3.6Million tonnes per year (MMTPA), Coral North will double Mozambique’s total LNG production to 7 MMTPA. This milestone will position the country as Africa’s third-largest LNG producer and exporter, strengthening its role as a key player in the global energy landscape.

The launch of a Hull marks the moment the vessel’s main structure is floated for the first time, a crucial part of the pre- installation,  before outfitting and integration of processing modules ahead of offshore deployment. The event was witnessed in Geoje, South Korea by Estevão Pale, Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Guido Brusco and ENI’s Chief Operating Officer, Global Natural Resources.

Leveraging the knowledge and experience gained since the start of production at Coral South in 2022, Coral North is designed to deliver greater efficiency and performance optimization, while reducing costs and minimizing execution risks, with the aim of completing the project by 2028, ENI said in a release.

ENI first discovered natural gas in Mozambique’s vast deepwater Rovuma Basin in 2011, five years after it showed up in the country. From 2011 to 2014, the company discovered the Coral, Mamba Complex, and Agulha fields, with approximately 85Trillion cubic feet of gas in place. Coral South, the first gas production project from the Basin, has already successfully delivered over 135 LNG cargoes to the market.

By Foluso Ogunsan, Upstream correspondent, West Africa

The Nigerian independent, Heirs Energies, has signed agreements with five companies for offtake of  natural gas in Agbada and Elelenwa fields, located  in the company’s operated Oil Mining Lease (OML) 17, onshore Eastern Nigeria.

The volume of offtake is around 18Million standard cubic feet per day (18MMscf/d). OML 17 is operated by Heirs on behalf of the NNPC/Heirs Energies Joint Venture.

Two of the offtakers: AUT Energy and Twems Energies, both involved in CNG development,  are taking gas under the auspices of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP),  a programme initiated and  superintended by the  Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).  They were  awarded “Permits to Access Flare Gas Issuance” an instrument which conferred on them the rights to approach Heirs to offtake gas.

The  three other  companies are offtaking the gas as willing buyer-willing seller customers of Heirs Energies/NNPC JV, outside the NUPRC NGFCP framework.  They include PCC Development Limited, a company  with strong Chinese backing; Africa Gas and Transportation Company (AfricaGTC) and Gas and Power Infrastructure Development Company. These companies  are involved in power generation, LNG and CNG, Computing and industrial conversion of gas to multiple products such as methanol-to-olefins (MTO) used in petrochemicals- Urea, Propylene, Ethylene and plastics,  as well as modular refining.

Heirs says it expects the three companies to have commissioned the plants to offtake the gas from its facilities by the third quarter of  2026.

The signing ceremony was a symbolic one as terms of agreement had been reached in the month of August. The Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) kick-started under the then Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in 2016 was aimed at providing a commercial framework for third-party investors to capture and commercialise associated gas otherwise b flared by an operator with no apparent case to monetise it.

HEIRS ENERGIES explains the contractual frameworks agreements with these two different sets of offtakers:.

For variability in flare volumes (Force majeure, reduced flaring or improved gas utilisation) the contractual agreement recognises the non-static nature of the flare volumes hence the executed contractual framework addresses such situations without redress for a new contract.

The role of the regulator NUPRC remains central throughout the life of the projects executed AUT Energy and Twems Energies . Any material changes to flare availability, utilisation plans or execution timelines are managed in alignment with NUPRC oversight, as attested to by Mr Ojo Olalekan Ezekiel, Senior Manager NUPRC who stated “For the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP),  , Yes! We will be involved. For the other one, no. To play the commercial function- No”.

Regarding the three offtakers who are not under the NGFCP remit: Commercial mechanisms (willing buyer-willing seller, take-or-pay) these mechanisms are catered for appropriately in the contract with appropriate securities. However where payment constraints exists beyond the offtaker’s control,  it can be verified under the terms in the force majeure provision and managed accordingly in line with the terms of agreement.

Offtaker Constraints and force majeure– Where offtakers are unable to take gas due to verifiable force majeure or external constraints, established contractual remedies apply. The focus of the NGFCP is not a punitive measure but practical execution ensuring optimal utilisation of natural resources while adhering to safety, environmental, regulatory compliance and economic viability.

Sourcing gas from third parties- Flare-gas agreements under the NGFCP and Non-NGFCP frameworks are site-specific. Sourcing flare-gas from other upstream producers would fall outside the scope of these agreements and would require separate commercial and regulatory frameworks.

Pricing of flare-gas in the NGFCP is governed by regulatory and commercial principles approved by the NUPRC and are contractually confidential agreements. They are however structured to incentivise investments in flare-gas utilisation by third-party offtakers. These financially-incentivised contractual agreements are further buttressed by the NUPRC stance as explained by its representative Mr E.O Ojo “We’re interested in everything. Our interest, our primary core is for you to reduce flaring. That is the main thing. Every other thing is secondary. The main thing is we want to eliminate routine flaring, reduce emission. That is primary. All the other things that come with it are addition. It provides opportunity for us to create value from what is being wasted, opportunity to create more jobs, opportunity to generate energy, opportunity to provide alternative fuel. A lot of opportunity and we’ll drive it, we’ll ensure that we stream as much value as we can from it. Having said that, the primary core objective first is to stop routine flaring”.

Apart from Heirs Energies, companies in JV partnership with NNPC  who are on the NGFCP and Non-NGFCP programmes include Renaissance Africa, Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) and Seplat Energies , according to Seyi Omotowa, Chief Upstream Investment Officer of the NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services (NUIMS). Twenty  companies have signed up to offtake gas from these operators .Heirs Energies, it would appear, has led the way.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is expecting his Israeli counterpart in Cairo for a ceremonial signing of an economic deal.

It is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first visit to Egypt in 15 years, and his aides are pitching it as a historic diplomatic milestone and a political win at home, after years of strained ties following the Gaza war and prior geopolitical tension.

At the centre of this visit is a proposed natural gas export transaction worth around $35Billion, positioning Israeli gas as a pillar of regional energy ties and future state revenue.

But the positive spin on this trip masks a deep irony; this project was a source of wrangling among Israeli political elites as recently as three months ago. The planned supply of additional 4.6Trillion cubic feet of gas from the country’s Leviathan field, in an operation that will run until 2040, was agreed in early August 2025 between Chevron, NewMed Energy and Ratio Energy on the one hand and Blue Ocean Energy on the other, marking a significant increase in Egyptian import. While this is a private transaction, the Netanyahu government, citing deep-seated mistrust about military build-up of the Egyptian army in the Sinai Peninsula, instructed that the gas export agreement not move forward without the Prime Minister’s approval, according to Israel Hayom on September 2, 2025. Netanyahu had instructed Energy Minister Eli Cohen to re-examine the Leviathan deal “in light of Egyptian violations of the peace treaty”, the Middle Eastern newspaper Medialine reported on September 9, 2025.

Chevron (operator), NewMed Energy and Ratio Energy are the parties managing the Leviathan gas field off the coast of Israel. Blue Ocean Energy (BOE), a Texas-based independent company, is the entity responsible for purchasing the natural gas from the consortium and distributing it within Egypt.

The United States lobbied in favour of the transaction and while Netanyahu came round to nod to the project, Minister Cohen remained in opposition.

Pumping this significant volume of gas into the Egyptian economy would, crucially, mitigate the steep declines in the country’s gas production. The one-time giant Zohr gas field, operated by Italy’s ENI, has fallen roughly 40% because of technical issues, forcing rationing even as Cairo continues exporting liquefied gas to Europe. Israeli supplies routed through Egyptian LNG terminals have filled the gap.

.Netanyahu wants to present this trip as proof that Israel can deepen peace with Arab neighbours even after the war, and as a showcase of his economic stewardship.​ Relations have been tense over Gaza, the Rafah crossing, refugees, and border incidents, so a high-profile energy deal would signal that direct cooperation is still possible.​

Mohammed Jetutu, in Cairo

Algerian state-owned oil company Sonatrach produces Nine Million Tons Per Year (9MMTPA) of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), of which it exports about 6MMTPA.

Sonatrach is the largest producer and exporter of LPG in the Mediterranean region, with Egypt coming a distant second in Africa, at 1.9MMTPA (2024 figures). Algeria’s publicly stated strategy is to balance domestic use with export growth; supplying local demand — across residential, industrial, autogas and petrochemical sectors — remains a priority, while keeping sustainability in focus.

But the company’s supply to African markets is a mixed grill; while it enthusiastically supplies Tunisia, whose consumption hardly reaches 700,000 Tons Per Year, its export to neighbouring Morocco (1.03MMTPA in 2022), was halted as a result of trade and diplomatic issues. The Hydrocarbon starved kingdom, one of Africa’s largest consumers of LPG, has veered to alternative import from Europe.

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