Italian energy company Eni has announced the discovery of the Zohr gas field, a “supergiant” natural gas deposit in the Mediterranean Sea, off Egypt’s coast. The field is expected to meet the country’s gas demand for decades. Located in the Shorouk block, Zohr is estimated to hold 30 trillion cubic feet (5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent) of lean gas, making it the largest gas discovery ever in Egypt and the Mediterranean and potentially one
TotalEnergies has resumed hydrocarbon exploration on Block 2913B in Namibia’s Orange Basin, drilling the Tamboti-1X exploration well just north of the Venus accumulation. The company estimates the prospect holds approximately 1 billion barrels of oil. The Deepsea Mira rig, under a multi-country contract with TotalEnergies since December 2022, began drilling Tamboti-1X in October 2024. TotalEnergies operates Block 2913B in Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) 56 with a 50.5% stake in the 8,215 km² offshore area. Its
Dangote Refinery has successfully shipped two jet fuel cargoes to Saudi Aramco, marking a significant milestone in its growing global footprint. During a facility tour with directors of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, highlighted the refinery’s rapid progress. “We are already achieving our ambitious targets,” Dangote stated. “We are pleased to announce the successful sale of two jet fuel cargoes to Saudi Aramco.” An industry analyst noted that
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne announced on Wednesday that U.S. financing for the company’s $20 billion Mozambique LNG project is expected to be approved in the coming weeks, with additional credit agencies following in the months ahead. The company is awaiting loan re-approvals from U.S., UK, and Dutch export credit agencies before lifting the force majeure that has stalled the project since 2021. Speaking after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report, Pouyanne stated that a previous loan
London-listed African Pioneer has raised £420,000 from existing and new shareholders to advance its Ongombo copper-gold project in Namibia and support activities in Zambia and Botswana. The funds will be used to analyze gold distribution and its association with copper and magnetite quartzite, assess orebody-wide gold distribution, and plan drillholes in underexplored areas. Additionally, external mining and resource consultants will refine resource estimates for open-pit mineralization and provide recommendations for infill drilling to enhance the
Anglo American is focused on maximizing its value as it prepares for a possible new acquisition bid and expects substantial progress on the long-awaited spin-off of its De Beers diamond business, CEO Duncan Wanblad said on Monday. The company rejected a $49 billion hostile takeover attempt from BHP in May 2024, which targeted its copper assets. Since then, Anglo—one of the best-performing major miners last year—has streamlined its portfolio by divesting coal assets and announcing
The Government of the Republic of Botswana (GRB) and De Beers Group have successfully concluded negotiations for a new sales agreement governing Debswana’s rough diamond production. This agreement also includes an extension of Debswana’s mining licenses beyond 2029, marking a significant milestone in their longstanding partnership. The development follows the Heads of Terms agreed upon on September 30, 2023. Debswana, a 50:50 joint venture between GRB and De Beers, operates some of Botswana’s most prominent
Nigeria is preparing to lobby the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for a higher oil production quota as the country recovers from years of declining crude output. Gbenga Komolafe, the chief executive of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), stated that the country aims to boost production to meet budgetary targets before formally requesting an adjustment in its OPEC quota. “Nigeria’s priority is to ramp up production to align with its budget goals
Botswana’s President, Duma Boko, who secured a victory in October’s elections, announced that his government has reached a diamond extraction and sales agreement with De Beers, providing much-needed certainty to the nation’s gem-dependent economy. The terms of the deal were finalized by midnight on January 24, and an official announcement is expected soon. Botswana is the world’s leading producer of rough diamonds by value, with the industry accounting for the majority of its income. Most
Golden Deeps has initiated a new diamond drilling program targeting the Nosib copper-silver deposit on its Otavi Mountain Land tenements in northern Namibia. The Nosib deposit, initially defined in June 2024, features a significant zone of copper-vanadium-lead-silver oxide and supergene mineralization from surface levels. As drilling extends deeper and further west, the deposit transitions into a primary copper-silver stratabound sulphide zone, hosted by the Nosib Formation clastic sediments—an uncommon geological setting in a region known
