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Liberia Puts Up 29 Oil & Gas Blocks for 2026 Hybrid Direct Negotiation

Liberia will feature its 2026 Offshore Direct Negotiation Licensing Round at Africa Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town.

The process, led by Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA), will present 29 offshore blocks with substantial subsurface data package comprising more than 50,000 line-kilometres of two dimensional (2D) seismic and over 31,000 square kilometres of 3D seismic data to international investors during Africa’s largest energy event to run from October 12-16, 2026.

The offering highlights the Liberia and Harper basins, with available acreage targeting a range of Cretaceous structures, deepwater basin-floor fans and structural closures, with the wider petroleum system sharing geological characteristics with prolific plays across the Atlantic margin.

TGS (for geophysical data) and Core Laboratories (for stratigraphic data) have supported the technical programme, while additional gravity, magnetic, well-log and multi-client datasets provide further information for companies evaluating the acreage

The LPRA’s formal presentation follows months of preparation led by Director General Marilyn T. Logan, including an August 19, 2026 investor day in Houston and the August 28, 2026 opening of prequalification. Companies are now able to establish their technical and financial eligibility ahead of expressions of interest and block-specific negotiations.

Liberia’s last formal competitive oil and gas bid round was conducted in August to December 2014 by the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), which ultimately concluded unsuccessfully due to political disagreements.

In the last five years, the country has replaced the traditional competitive bidding round with an alternative hybrid process called the Direct Negotiation Licencing Round. It was in this context that the 2024 Liberia Direct Negotiation Round was run through the LPRA.

The direct negotiation model allows qualified companies to advance individual technical and commercial prospects. The process operates under Liberia’s 2014 Petroleum Exploration and Production Act and its 2019 amendments, while resulting PSCs require signatures from both the LPRA and Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. Companies are assessed on technical capability, financial strength and offshore experience before progressing into negotiations over proposed exploration programmes.

TGS has reprocessed 12,000 kilometres of 2D seismic using Pre-Stack Depth Migration, alongside 5,100 square kilometres of reprocessed 3D data from a 26,000-square kilometre volume. The wider TGS library includes more than 24,000 kilometres of legacy 2D data, strengthening imaging across an offshore frontier where subsurface definition remains central to exploration decisions.

The available Liberia Basin acreage includes LB-1, LB-2, LB-3, LB-7, LB-12, LB-13 and LB-14, while Harper Basin opportunities include LB-18, LB-19, LB-20, LB-21, LB-23, LB-25 and LB-28. Other blocks within the wider 29-block grid are already covered by existing commitments and agreements.

TotalEnergies holds LB-6, LB-11, LB-17 and LB-29, covering approximately 12,700 km2, while Atlas Oranto Petroleum holds LB-15, LB-16, LB-22 and LB-24. PetroQuest holds interests connected to LB-32, while RL-003 covers LB-26, LB-30 and LB-31 and involves TotalEnergies and BluEnergies in a separate study and application arrangement.

Activity around LB-32 has provides a fresh indication of corporate interest ahead of the AEW launch. Australian independent Bounty Oil & Gas agreed on September 22 to acquire 100% of PetroQuest Liberia Deep Water, which holds an exclusive letter of engagement with the National Oil Company of Liberia to negotiate a PSC for the Harper Basin block.

The Harper Basin’s geological setting is also attracting attention because of its relationship to neighboring Ivory Coast’s offshore petroleum system. Eni’s Baleine and Calao discoveries have demonstrated the wider prospectivity of the regional margin, while companies including Petrobras and Murphy Oil are pursuing comparable Upper Cretaceous deepwater plays elsewhere in the region.

Liberia’s licensing process uses a direct negotiation model, allowing qualified companies to advance individual technical and commercial prospects. The process operates under Liberia’s 2014 Petroleum Exploration and Production Act and its 2019 amendments, while resulting PSCs require signatures from both the LPRA and Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. Companies are assessed on technical capability, financial strength and offshore experience before progressing into negotiations over proposed exploration programs.

With prequalification now open and valid for five years, companies can establish their eligibility ahead of the licensing round and be prepared to move quickly when new opportunities are launched.

 


Natt Jack Up Will Drill on HI Gas Field until August 2027

The Jack up rig Natt, owned and operated by Borr Drilling, will continue to be on active duty for Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company (SNEPCo) until August 2027.

The rig is currently drilling on the HI field in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11, offshore southwestern Niger Delta.

Borr Drilling reports that SNEPCo exercised the one-well option on the Natt in Nigeria. “Based on the current well programme, it is anticipated that the rig will remain contracted with the customer into early August 2027.”

SNEPCo and its partner Sunlink Energies and Resources Limited announced a $2Billion final investment decision regarding the shallow water HI offshore gas field development on October 14, 2025.

Production from HI will be processed onshore at Bonny Island, where gas will be fed to Nigeria LNG (NLNG), in which Shell holds a 25.6% interest. The project aligns with the ongoing Train 7 expansion, which aims to increase the terminal’s capacity by 35%. The added gas supply will bolster Nigeria’s LNG exports.

Discovered in 1985 and located about 50 kilometres off Nigeria’s coast in 100 metres of water, is expected to produce up to 350Million standard cubic feet of gas per day—equivalent to around 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day—by 2030. The project’s estimated recoverable resource stands at approximately 285Million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE).


Azule Poaches ExxonMobil Namibia’s Deputy General Manager

Azule Energy has appointed the Founder and Chairperson of the Women in Oil, Gas & Energy Network Namibia (WOGEN), as the Deputy General Manager for its operations in the country.

Rachel Namata Msiska had worked as Deputy General Manager and Public & Government Affairs Manager at ExxonMobil Namibia since February 2025.

She will play effectively the same role in Azule Energy, which has more proven set of assets in the southwest African country than ExxonMobil does.

Azule Energy holds a 42.5% participating interest in offshore Petroleum Exploration License 85 (PEL 85) in Namibia’s Orange Basin in which three discoveries have been made. The company holds an option to assume operatorship during the development phase.

ExxonMobil operates 1710 and 1810 with a 90% working interest, and Blocks 1711 and with 85% interest. It has not announced any commercial finds.

“In her new role, Rachel will support Country General Manager Giovanni Aquilina in strengthening Azule Energy’s presence and stakeholder relationships in Namibia as the company advances its long-term ambitions in the country”, Azule says in a statement. “Shel brings more than 12 years of experience in the energy and petroleum sector, with expertise in stakeholder engagement, public and government affairs, corporate governance, and community investment”.

Msiska has held leadership positions within the Namibia Petroleum Operators Association (NAMPOA) and NAMCOR, the state hydrocarbon company. She has built strong relationships across government, industry and civil society.


Chevron Plays Real Estate Game in Namibia: Takes Up Trago’s Last 10% in PEL 90

Namibian homegrown E&P firm Trago Energy Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Custos Energy (Pty) Ltd., has entered into an agreement with Chevron Corporation, in respect of its 10% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration License 90 (PEL 90).

PEL 90 is located offshore Namibia in the Orange Basin and covers an area of approximately 5,433 km². The licence is operated by Chevron.

The agreement provides for the transfer of all of Trago’s participating interest in PEL 90 to Chevron, in exchange for $11Million in cash at completion and further contingent consideration payable on the achievement of appraisal and production milestones, including the revenues associated with commercial production currently estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.5Million barrels of oil (dependent upon commodity price assumptions.)

“Chevron has been buying and selling equity in PEL 90 in the last four years. The American major returned to Namibia for the Orange Basin Rush in late 2022, several months after Shell’s basin opening discovery. It acquired 80% of the acreage from Trago. In December 2024, Chevron reached an agreement to transfer a 27.5% working interest to Qatar Energy, reducing its stake to 52.5%.”

The transaction provides Trago, through the contingent consideration with ongoing exposure to the significant prospectivity and upcoming activities on PEL 90, including the Nabba-1X exploration well, while eliminating Trago’s funding and capital risk.

Completion of the transaction remains subject to governmental, regulatory and third-party approvals. Following completion, Trago will no longer hold a participating interest in PEL 90 and will have no further obligation to fund its share of costs on the licence, including the Nabba-1X exploration well.

Chevron has been buying and selling equity in PEL 90 in the last four years. The American major returned to Namibia for the Orange Basin Rush in late 2022, several months after Shell’s basin opening discovery. It acquired 80% of the acreage from Trago. In December 2024, Chevron reached an agreement to transfer a 27.5% working interest to Qatar Energy, reducing its stake to 52.5%.

Chevron drilled the disappointing Kapana-1X exploration well on the asset, reaching its target depth in January 2025 and plugging the probe as a dry hole after failing to encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.

In August 2026, Chevron sold a 17.4% participating interest in PEL 90 to Equinor.

Equinor acquired the stake through an agreement signed in August 2026. This has not been approved by regulators. It would have reduced Chevron’s stake from 52.5% to 35.1%. Chevron has now acquired-again pending regulatory approval- the entire 10% that Trago holds.

“Adjusted for recently announced, but as yet uncompleted, farm-out to Equinor and prior to adjustment for Trago’s interest exchange, the PEL 90 participants include Chevron (35.1% interest) Qatar Energy (27.5%), Equinor (17.4%), the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (10%) and Trago (10%). No reserves or resources have been attributed to PEL 90”.

Chevron will then be holding 45.1% operated interest in PEL 90 after regulators have approved its 17.4% sale to Equinor and 10% acquisition from Trago.


AEC: Lawfare Shouldn’t Be threatening Dangote’s Kenya Refinery

By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber

Africa Must Build, Not Block

Construction activities associated with Dangote Industries planned $16Billion refinery in Lamu, Kenya, face disruption following a petition by 133 residents claiming rights over land earmarked for the project. While the interim order made by the Malindi Environment and Land Court states that the status quo be maintained on the land, parties are required not to carry out activities until the court hearing on October 14, 2026. The groundbreaking went ahead on September 30, 2026.

The African Energy Chamber (AEC), representing the voice of the African energy sector, condemns these attempts to derail the refinery and strongly supports Aliko Dangote and Dangote Industries in advancing a project of strategic importance to East Africa’s fuel security. The Chamber views this as frivolous litigation from the west. Africa has seen too many strategic energy projects delayed by bureaucracy, litigation and anti-development pressure at precisely the moment the continent needs more infrastructure, not less.

The petition was brought by residents of Chandavai – situated in Lamu Country – who declare that the land allocated for the refinery, specifically LR No. 13061, forms part of their ancestral heritage. They are seeking recognition and compensation. While Dangote Industries has said the ruling will not stop the refinery’s planned groundbreaking and has reaffirmed its commitment to the 700,000-barrel-per-day (BOPD) project, the ongoing court case demonstrates a pattern of legal warfare against vital infrastructure projects in Africa. Legitimate questions around land rights, compensation and environmental compliance must be addressed fairly and in accordance with Kenyan law, but they should be resolved without allowing a transformative infrastructure project to become trapped in prolonged litigation.

Africa cannot continue exporting its energy security and then acting surprised when conflicts thousands of kilometres away determine what our people pay for fuel. The communities of Lamu must have their rights respected, and legitimate questions around land and compensation should be resolved quickly and fairly. But those issues cannot become an excuse to indefinitely delay one of the most important downstream investments East Africa has seen in decades.

The planned refinery has the potential to transform East Africa’s energy market. The region has had no operating refinery since Kenya Petroleum Refineries shut down in 2013, leaving it reliant on imports for 90% of its fuel needs – 75% of which come from the Middle East. The ongoing Middle East conflict and resulting disruption to global oil trade intensified regional fuel security risks.

With the Dangote facility, East Africa can reduce this reliance. The refinery is modeled after the 650,000BOPD Nigerian facility – currently expanding to 1.2MillionBOPD – which reduced petroleum imports by around 317,000BOPD, increased refined exports seven-fold and turned Nigeria into a regional refining hub.

Aliko Dangote hopes to complete the Kenyan facility by 2030. Prolonged litigation directly impacts this timeline.

Mr. Dangote has already demonstrated what African capital and African entrepreneurship can achieve in refining. Kenya now has an opportunity to build that same resilience in East Africa. Resolve the dispute, protect the communities and build the refinery.

The risks posed by sustained legal and activist opposition to African infrastructure are not unique to Kenya. The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), connecting Uganda’s oilfields to Tanzania’s Tanga port, has faced years of coordinated opposition from international and local NGOs, including campaigns targeting the project’s financing, insurers and other commercial partners. Similar pressures have affected the West African Gas Pipeline, a critical regional network supplying Nigerian gas to Benin, Togo and Ghana, led by groups such as Environmental Rights Action and Friends of the Earth.


Algeria’s Methanol Conversion Plant Close to Inauguration

Algeria’s Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) production plant is undergoing its phased gradual commissioning and entry into production, which began in June 2026.

Built across a 114,000-square-meter site inside the Arzew industrial zone in Oran, the project is designed to produce 200,000 tonnes of MTBE per year, converting roughly 75% of locally produced methanol from the Arzew complex into MTBE. MTBE is a critical additive for manufacturing unleaded gasoline.

The facility represents a major pillar in Algeria’s broader strategy to maximize downstream petrochemical sovereignty and reduce foreign currency expenditure.

By shifting from an importer to a producer, the facility will eliminate Algeria’s need to import MTBE (which previously cost the country roughly $170Million annually) and allow for surplus exports.

In the oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors, “commissioning” is a multi-month phase where systems, pipelines, and control rooms are tested with actual feedstock. A formal inauguration ceremony typically takes place after the plant successfully finishes these test runs and achieves stable, continuous commercial production.

The most recent high-level state event at the site occurred when Prime Minister Sifi Ghrieb officially inspected the MTBE unit’s progress and toured its central control room. During that same visit, he launched the neighboring Continuous Catalytic Reforming (CCR) naphtha unit.


Africa Gas & LNG Summit 2026 to Bring Investment and Local Value Into Focus in Maputo

PARTNER CONTENT

Three-day Maputo summit will bring together government, industry and investors to examine the next phase of Africa’s gas and LNG development.

MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE, September 2026 – The Africa Gas & LNG Summit (AfGLNG) will take place in Maputo from 11–13 November 2026, bringing together government leaders, energy executives, investors and industry experts to examine how Africa can convert its gas resources into investment, infrastructure and wider economic opportunity.

Held at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre, the summit will take place under the official patronage of H.E. Daniel Chapo, President of the Republic of Mozambique, and the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy. President Chapo is scheduled to deliver the presidential welcome on the opening day, while Hon. Estevão Pale, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, will also take part in key discussions across the programme, underscoring the high-level government support for the summit.

AfGLNG 2026 is hosted by the Associação de Conteúdo Local de Moçambique (ACLM), with Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, E.P. (ENH), Mozambique’s national hydrocarbons company and government equity partner in the country’s LNG projects, and the Instituto Nacional de Petróleo (INP), the regulator overseeing Mozambique’s licensing and contract compliance, as strategic partners.

The summit comes as African gas projects face critical investment and development decisions, while governments look to secure greater economic value from the continent’s resources. Mozambique alone illustrates the scale of that shift: Mozambique LNG, led by TotalEnergies, is a US$20 billion development projected to produce approximately 13 million tonnes per year; Rovuma LNG, led by ExxonMobil and Eni, is licensed for 18 Mtpa; Coral South FLNG has been exporting gas since 2022 as Africa’s first deepwater floating LNG project; and the US$6–7 billion Coral North FLNG expansion will double that output by 2028. With Africa emerging as an increasingly important part of the global gas supply chain, AfGLNG 2026 will focus not only on new investment, but also on how gas development can support infrastructure, industrialisation and broader economic benefit across the continent.

A central focus of the conference will be where investment goes next. Regional sessions will examine opportunities across Mozambique, North Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa, including Senegal and Mauritania’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project, Nigeria’s expanding LNG and pipeline infrastructure, and new gas developments in Congo, Angola and Tanzania, giving delegates a broader view of the different markets, project environments and investment priorities shaping gas development across the continent.

An Africa Energy Ministers’ Forum will bring together nine African energy ministries to discuss policy, investment and regional cooperation, while the wider programme will connect these policy discussions with the commercial and project-level issues facing the sector.

The programme will also look at what is needed to move projects forward. A dedicated FID session will examine the path towards Final Investment Decision, alongside discussions on finance, LNG infrastructure, gas-to-power, industrialisation and the wider African LNG value chain.

Local content will form another major strand of the summit. A dedicated SME and Entrepreneurs session will explore supplier development, access to finance and practical opportunities for African businesses to participate in the industry’s growth. The focus reflects a wider theme running through the summit: ensuring that gas development creates opportunities not only through exports, but also through local supply chains, enterprise development and economic participation.

The opening programme will also feature an Energy Leaders’ Dialogue under the theme “The African Gas Opportunity: Turning Resources into Prosperity,” focused on turning natural resources into long-term economic value.

Confirmed participants also include Rudêncio Morais, Chairman of ENH; Nazário Bangalane, Chairman of INP; Dr Elthon Chemane, Chairman of ACLM Mozambique; Farid Ghezali, Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO); Ranti Omole, CEO of Radial Circle; and Eng. Elizabeth Rogo, President & CEO of Tsavo Oilfield Services, Kenya.

A parallel technical track will run alongside the executive conference on Day 2. The summit will also feature an international exhibition, an opening-day exhibition tour and cocktail reception, and networking opportunities throughout the three-day programme, creating additional space for direct engagement between government, industry, investors and service providers.

Further information, including sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, is available at africagaslng.com. 

About the Africa Gas & LNG Summit

Organised by GEP (Global Event Partners), the Africa Gas & LNG Summit (AfGLNG) is an international platform focused on advancing investment, partnership and development across Africa’s gas and LNG sector. AfGLNG 2026 takes place 11–13 November 2026 at the Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre, Maputo, Mozambique, under the official patronage of H.E. Daniel Chapo, President of Mozambique, and the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.

africagaslng.com #AfGLNG2026

Media Contacts

International Enquiries

Paul Gilbert

pagilbert@gep-events.com

+44 7850 025295

National Enquiries

Elthon Chemane

e.chemane@localcontent.co.mz

+258 84 484 8400


Dangote Breaks the Ground for East African Refinery

The groundbreaking ceremony for East Africa’s largest energy project went ahead as scheduled on September 30, 2026, despite a court case and a cast of protesters in the host community.

On a seaside patch of the 7,000-acre piece of land earmarked for the project in Lamu, a coastal town on the shores of the Indian Ocean in the north of Kenya, President Wiliam Ruto superintended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery, a $16Billion (KSh2.2Trillion) mega project set to transform the energy and industrial landscape of Kenya and the region.

“This is more than a refinery”, Ruto said to a cheering crowd. “It is an integrated industrial complex featuring a 1,000MW power plant, a plastic factory and the manufacturing of fertilisers and chemicals”.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni  joined President William Ruto as the heads of state at the ceremony. Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was also in attendance.

Aliko Dangote, the African billionaire whose company is constructing the project, told the audience of over 1,000 people that Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals will complete the 700,000Barrels Per Stream Day (BPSD) single train refinery in 40 months.

To which Ruto replied with a joke: “Kenyans are very good with keeping data. I warn you. They always take me to task every time I give them a time frame.”

Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals had selected Honeywell Technologies to provide technology and engineering for the project.

Overshadowing the September 30, 2026 ceremony was a legal challenge, brought forward by a group of 133 local farmers and residents from the Chandavai and Magogoni areas of Lamu County. The petitioners argue that the 7,000-acre tract is ancestral land their families have occupied, cultivated, and used for livestock rearing for generations. Residents allege that government officials and developers arrived unexpectedly with bulldozers to clear the land on September 10, 2026, destroying homes, crops, trees, mosques, shrines, and family graves without prior notice.

While the host community residents acknowledge they lack formal registered title deeds, they maintain that under the Kenya Land Act’s compulsory acquisition provisions, their long-term occupancy qualifies them as “interested persons” entitled to recognition, resettlement, and fair compensation.

Public interest lawyers and lobby groups have additionally threatened or joined legal actions, asserting that the government violated constitutional mandates by failing to conduct transparent public participation before.

Mr. Ruto, who is seeking re-election in August 2027, said that “land matters will be handled fairly and environmental issues will be dealt with judiciously”. Speaking in both English and Swahili, he also declared that he was prepared to take on those who simply want to disrupt the project.

The Africa Energy Chamber, has also weighed in with concerns.

“Legitimate questions around land rights, compensation and environmental compliance must be addressed fairly and in accordance with Kenyan law”, wrote NJ Ayu, the AEC’’s Executive Chairman, “but they should be resolved without allowing a transformative infrastructure project to become trapped in prolonged litigation.

“Africa cannot continue exporting its energy security and then acting surprised when conflicts thousands of kilometres away determine what our people pay for fuel. The communities of Lamu must have their rights respected, and legitimate questions around land and compensation should be resolved quickly and fairly. But those issues cannot become an excuse to indefinitely delay one of the most important downstream investments East Africa has seen in decades”.

 

 

 


Zambia Postpones Open Access to Fuel Pipeline

Zambia has postponed the return of open access to its primary fuel-import pipeline until January 2027.

The east African country suspended open access to the TAZAMA Pipeline in April 2026 after the American-Iranian conflict disrupted global energy markets and threatened domestic fuel supplies.

Zambia then awarded exclusive access to Vitol Group, the commodity trader, to supply diesel through the line until September 2026.

Tazama Pipeline Ltd, which operates the 1,700-kilometre facility, had previously asked oil trading companies to pre-qualify to transport diesel through the infrastructure starting in October 2026.

The International Monetary Fund had also advised Zambia to restore the competitive system, describing the current arrangement as monopolistic and pressuring the country to reopen the line to facilitate lower procurement costs and market transparency.

The government has given no reasons for the postponement of open access to the line, which connects the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam to Zambia’s mineral-rich Copperbelt province.

Ephraim Munshifwa, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Energy, simply said on a Facebook post, that “the process to resume TAZAMA open access in January 2027 is underway”.


SLB OneSubsea to Install the Subsea Trees in Exxon’s Mega LNG Project in Mozambique

SLB OneSubsea™ joint venture has been awarded a contract by ExxonMobil Moçambique, Limitada, on behalf of its Area 4 partners, (ENH, CNPC, ENI, KOGAS and XRG), to deliver subsea production systems for the first phase of the offshore Rovuma LNG project in Mozambique.

The contract scope includes the delivery of subsea trees, manifolds, umbilicals and associated control systems designed to support efficient production from the deepwater field. SLB OneSubsea will provide engineering, procurement, manufacturing, along with installation services, leveraging its experience in delivering subsea systems for complex deepwater developments worldwide.

The Rovuma LNG project will deliver an 18Million Tons Per Annum (18MMTPA) LNG project from reservoirs in the Mamba Field: a massive deepwater  gas accumulation discovered by ENI in in 2011.

SLB OneSubsea intends to establish a services base in Mozambique in support of the project and  to serve operators across the region. The facility will create local training and employment opportunities, while supporting the development of regional supply chains.

“This award reflects our ability to deliver integrated subsea solutions that help customers accelerate development and maximize value from deepwater resources,” said Mads Hjelmeland, chief executive officer, SLB OneSubsea.

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