Exploration - Exploration

Heirs Energies wins prestigious title at EMEA Project Finance Awards

Image_of_Heirs_Energies_at_EMEA_Project_Finance_Awards

The US$750mn facility was born out of an innovative capital mobilisation strategy. (Image source: Heirs Energies)

Nigerian company, Heirs Energies Limited's dual-tranche senior secured reserve-based lending (RBL) facility was bestowed with the Best Oil & Gas Deal of the Year title at the EMEA Finance Project Finance Awards 2026

The US$750mn facility was born out of an innovative capital mobilisation strategy to become self sufficient in local resources exploration. Heirs Energies successfully translated this vision into reality with African Export-Import Bank's support as it helped in project execution.

The facility aims to accelerate field development, optimise production, and support Heirs Energies' long-term growth ambitions, while maintaining disciplined capital management.

Commenting on the recognition, Osa Igiehon, chief executive officer of Heirs Energies, said, "This recognition reflects the confidence that African and international financial institutions continue to place in Heirs Energies, our strategy, and our long-term vision. The transaction demonstrates that indigenous African energy companies can successfully structure and execute world-class financing solutions that support investment, growth, and value creation. We are proud to receive this award and grateful to our financing partners, advisers, and stakeholders whose support made it possible."

Haytham ElMaayergi, executive vice president, Global Trade Bank at Afreximbank, said, “We are truly honoured that the US$750 million dual-tranche Senior Secured Reserve-Based Lending facility for Heirs Energies has been recognised as Best Oil & Gas Deal of the Year by the EMEA Finance Project Finance Awards.

"This recognition underscores the importance of well-structured, Africa-focused financing in supporting indigenous energy companies with strong governance, high-quality assets and clear long-term growth plans. Afreximbank was proud to support this landmark transaction, which demonstrates how African financial institutions can help mobilise capital for strategic businesses that advance energy security, production capacity and sustainable value creation across the continent.

"We congratulate Heirs Energies and all the partners involved in the transaction and are pleased to see this important financing recognised on such a respected international platform.”

Samuel Nwanze, executive director and chief financial officer of Heirs Energies, said "This award validates the strength of the transaction and the confidence our financing partners placed in Heirs Energies.
The facility was designed to support our long-term growth strategy, enabling continued investment in field development, production optimisation, and sustainable value creation. We are pleased to see the transaction recognised on such a respected global platform."

Kent to deliver construction management in Angola

Kent to deliver construction management in Angola. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Integrated engineering and project delivery company, Kent, has been awarded a contract by CABGOC (Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited) for Construction Management Services in Angola

Under the scope of the contract, Kent will deliver integrated construction management services across CABGOC’s operations, including the supervision and coordination of on-site construction activities and associated field execution support, leveraging its multidisciplinary expertise, Kent will support safe, efficient, and high-quality delivery across key disciplines such as mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, fabrication, and project planning.

Services will include the mobilisation of a highly capable workforce, combining a strong local presence with international expertise. The project will prioritise the development of local capability through structured knowledge transfer and skills development, supported by Kent’s global operational readiness training programme, helping to build a sustainable regional workforce.

This award reflects Kent’s continued growth in delivering complex construction and asset support services, as well as its commitment to helping clients achieve safe, reliable, and lower-carbon energy outcomes.

“Being awarded this contract by CABGOC is a testament to the strength of our relationship and our shared focus on safe, efficient project delivery,” said Iain Eddie, Executive Vice President of EMEA & APAC at Kent. “We are proud to support this project with our construction management expertise and look forward to delivering excellence while creating lasting value locally.”

Shell reports promising exploration results offshore Namibia

With partners QatarEnergy and NAMCOR, Shell has found promising exploration results from its Merlin-1X exploration well in Petroleum Exploration Licence No. 0039 (PEL 0039), offshore Namibia

This pushes forward its evaluation of the Orange Basin block with the well successfully penetrating the Coniacian play. Delivering the most promising subsurface results to date in PEL 0039, it indicated good reservoir quality with light oil and limited associated gas, compared to prior results within the licence.

The Merlin-1X well, spudded on 8 April 2026, is the tenth well drilled in the licence, which is operated by Shell.

The results enhance Shell’s understanding of the basin and support continued evaluation of the resource and its commercial potential across the licence. Further drilling later in 2026 is under consideration as part of a broader exploratory appraisal programme.

Eugene Okpere, Shell’s Executive Vice President for Exploration, Strategy and Portfolio, said, “These are encouraging results that add to our understanding of the Orange Basin potential. We are progressing this opportunity through a disciplined, data-led approach to establish commerciality, focusing our investment on options that are material, competitive and resilient within our portfolio. This is built on strong partnership and alignment, and I thank the Government of the Republic of Namibia, our partners and all teams involved.”

TGS to deliver streamer acquisition deal in Africa

Energy and data intelloigence provider, TGS, has been awarded a streamer acquisition contract in the Africa & Middle East region.

A 3D Ramform vessel is scheduled to commence acquisition in early September 2026, and the contract has a duration of approximately 55 days.

Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS, said, "I am very pleased with this contract award, which builds visibility into the winter season. Our Ramform acquisition platform, combined with the proprietary GeoStreamer technology will provide the client with high quality data that enables more accurate and informed decision-making in their oil and gas exploration activities.”

Previously, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has partnered with TGS and SeaSeis Geophysical Limited to announce the Nigeria Laide multi-client 3D survey, which focuses within the outer fold and thrust belt of the deepwater eastern Niger Delta. This area is marked with complex geological challenges such as stacked toe-thrust structures, elongate anticlines (e.g. Bolia–Chota), inner fold-and-thrust-belt geometries, and shale diapirs/mud volcanoes.

These are addressed with the help of GeoStreamer dual-sensor system, long offsets, wide tow, and a triple-source configuration that are capable of generating modern broadband seismic data to support full-integrity PSTM and Q-PSDM through advanced Elastic FWI-driven velocity model building. This makes it easy for operators and explorers to finalise the next steps based on precisely acquired insights from otherwise inaccessible and challenging zones.

Vaalco's Baobab field offshore Ivory Coast is now online

Vaalco Energy has brought back online the Baobab field on CI-40 block offshore Ivory Coast following the refurbishment of Baobab Ivoirien Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel

This comes following a nine-month refurbishment in Dubai, as the FPSO returned to Côte d’Ivoire in early Q2 2026, was moored into position and re-connected to the field infrastructure.

Production has resumed from four producing wells with the remaining three producers expected to come online shortly; the field is performing in line with Vaalco’s expectations.

FPSO refurbishment was undertaken to extend the life of the vessel and to ensure its long-term operational capacity as a significant development drilling program at Baobab is planned to begin in the second half of 2026; and Phase 5 drilling programme is expected to include four producers, two to three injectors and two workovers providing potential meaningful additions to production from the main Baobab field.

George Maxwell, Vaalco’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are excited that the Baobab field on the CI-40 block offshore Côte d’Ivoire has restarted production in line with our projected timeline. We have the CI-40 block license extended through 2038 and believe that there is significant development drilling upside at Baobab. In early 2024, we had no assets in Côte d’Ivoire and now we have developed a strong position with development and exploration potential. We are at a critical junction, with successes in the Gabon drilling campaign and the Baobab field returning to production, and we believe that the remainder of 2026 will be very impactful. We remain focused on execution and driving meaningful growth through our organic capital programs that we believe will translate into value for our shareholders in 2026 and beyond.”