Africa

Somalia: The final frontier?

At the outset of a project in the area, one has to ask “Why does offshore Somalia remain unexplored?” It is one of the last undrilled frontier basins in the…

The source rock for Venus

Duncan Macgregor and his colleague Colin Reeves are working on a project that will result in the creation of a series of paleotectonic and paleogeographic maps of the African continent.…

Grenadier, a turning point for Angola’s pre-salt play?

TotalEnergies is drilling Grenadier-1, on block 20/11 in the Kwanza basin offshore Angola. The Valaris DS-12 drillship is carrying out the work for TotalEnergies and partner Sonangol in 1500 m…

Unlocking African energy to power the future

It may not seem like it, but the last in-person GESGB/HGS Africa Conference was back in 2019. But the good news is that for 2023 we are back! The latest…

An analogue for Ephesus?

BP has just completed the Ephesus or Cape Creel exploration well off the northeast coast of Canada, which has unfortunately been reported dry. The main target of the well was…

Mature basins still favoured for exploration dollars

Old basins still attract new exploration investment, with great success in the case of the Tano Basin in the transform margin of West Africa. Spanning the eastern Cote D’Ivoire and…

Producing gas and helium from a gold field

In the Archean, braided rivers formed fan deltas along the shores of the Witwatersrand Sea in what is now South Africa. Today, the Witwatersrand Basin is known as the world’s…

Fans of Senegal…

Senegal is due to become an oil producing nation later this year when Woodside brings onstream the Sangomar field which should lift 100,000 bbls of oil per day to the…

Offshore wildcat drilling set to resume in Morocco

After a five-year lull, bar Chariot’s appraisal drilling at Anchois, Eni and partners Qatar Energy and ONHYM will spud the Cinnamon 1 well in early summer 2023. Eni was the…