The project aims to boost natural gas production.

In a major step towards the development of its first project in Egypt, Arcius, in collaboration with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, has reached final investment decision (FID) on the Harmattan gas field in the El Burg Offshore concession area

Approximately half a billion dollars investment by the bp and XRG venture, the project aims to boost natural gas production.

This comes following Arcius’ acquisition of the El Burg Offshore concession area in February 2026. The project's execution phase will be led by ENPPI delivering engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for Pharaonic Petroleum Company on behalf of El Burg Offshore Petroleum Company. Petroleum Marine Services and Petrojet will be providing services in the capacity of subcontractors.

Speaking on the FID and acknowledging the project's purpose to primarily meet domestic market needs, the chief executive officer of Arcius, Naser Al Yafei, said, "The Final Investment Decision to develop the Harmattan field marks an important milestone in advancing one of our first projects in Egypt toward production. It reflects our confidence in the potential of Egypt’s energy sector and our commitment to close cooperation with the Egyptian government, EGAS, and our execution partners to strengthen Egypt’s natural gas supply, support energy security, and reinforce Egypt’s position as a regional energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean.” 

The FID was announced during the EGYPES 2026 with the participation of EGAS, Arcius as the Operator of El Burg Offshore Concession, PhPC, ENPPI, and in the presence of Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

Major discoveries drove gas output.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has reported that the country's hydrocarbons reserves have reached 37 billion barrels of oil and 215 trillion standard cubic feet of gas as of 1 January 2026

While gas reserves recorded an increase which can be attributed to recent major discoveries, oil output took a slight hit from production and updated field evaluations, as noted by the commission’s chief executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan. Field performance and subsurface technical studies resulted to the low production levels of 2025, according to Eyesan.

The announcement, which aligned with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, recorded crude oil reserves at an estimated 31.09 billion barrels as condensate reserves stood at 5.92 billion barrels.

In the gas front, associated gas reserves were put at 100.21 trillion cu/ft, and non-associated gas reserves stood at 114.98 trillion cu/ft.

Noting the maximum span of the reserves in terms of current production levels, the commission indicated the reserves' life index at 59 years for oil and 85 years for gas.

Advanced reservoir studies, on the other hand, led to an increase in gas reserves by 2.21%.

“Consequently… I hereby declare the Total Oil and Condensate reserves of 37.01 billion barrels and Total Gas reserves of 215.19 trillion cubic feet as the official National Petroleum Reserves Position as of 1st January 2026,” said Eyesan, as she acknowledged the comnmision's role in emphasising upstream performance to heighten reserves growth and maintain production levels. This, she believed, was made easier because of the PIA, which allows the commission to supervise the country's petroleum resources. 

As part of the federal government's efforts to boost oil and gas investment home and abroad, President Bola Tinubu has approved a targeted fiscal incentive package to accelerate the final investment decision (FID) for the Bonga Southwest Aparo (BSWA) deepwater project.

This led to Shell executives visiting the president in Abuja even as global oil prices shoot up due to supply shocks from geopolitical tensions. The major showed much enthusiasm about further investments in Nigeria as it acknowledged the country's improved political stability, policy consistency, and leadership as primary drivers.

“We are very keen to invest in Nigeria, but I would say this has not always been the case,” said Shell’s chief executive officer, Wael Sawan. 

Coral Norte will be an enhanced replica of the Coral Sul project.

The Eni-led Mozambique Rovuma Venture has signed a significant contract with Technip Energies, JGC and Samsung Heavy Industries to secure their ongoing project delivery services for the long term on the Coral Norte Floating Liquefied Natural Gas project offshore Mozambique

This follows the previously announced contract on initial activities, locking in Technip's services for the advanced stages of development as well.

The country’s second floating LNG facility, Coral Norte will be an enhanced replica of the Coral Sul project, which is currently up and running, producing over 5 million tonnes of LNG. The hull launch of Coral Norte already took place in South Korea in January. 

Loic Chapuis, president - project delivery and services of Technip Energies, said, "Building on the success of Coral Sul, and together with JGC and Samsung Heavy Industries, this award further strengthens our long-standing partnership with Eni and their Area 4 partners. It also underscores our leadership in delivering innovative and complex LNG solutions to support long-term energy supply and security in Mozambique and globally.”

Replicating the same feed gas composition and field location of the Coral Sul will ensure a cost-effective and de-risked project delivery for Coral Norte, as it will be the result of proven design. This predictability at scale will ensure boosted LNG output from Coral Norte with optimal investments.

“Coral Norte is a clear recognition of Technip Energies’ engineering and project delivery expertise and our ability to replicate proven solutions with discipline and certainty," Chapuis said. 

The panel's theme was 'Africa's energy transition on African terms'.

Crystol Energy's founder and chief executive officer, Dr. Carole Nakhle, moderated an Africa-focused panel during the recently concluded International Energy Week in London to get a perspective on the continent's stand on decarbonisation and energy transition practices

"It's not saying that decarbonisation should be ignored, but the truth is, you can't decarbonise what you don't have. If you don't have energy, you can't be talking about decarbonisation. You have to have the energy faster than you decarbonise," said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company's chief financial officer, Adedapo Segun, in the context of poor energy access in Africa. 

Segun's case was further supported by Renaissance Africa Energy Company's managing director and chief executive officer, Tony Attah, who said that with a teeming youth population, Africa cannot compromise on industrialisation. "I think it's a no brainer that from an African lens, from a Nigerian lens, industrialisation is what will move people out of poverty. We want to be given the flexibility to use the same resources to achieve what Europe and the rest of the world has achieved. From an African lens, it's survival first. I haven't survived. You're asking me to make a choice. It's about the industrialisation of Africa...when you talk about the whole emissions and impact on climate, data suggests that the entire Africa is contributing way less than 4% so essentially, we can even carry on at two, three times the scale today, and it will not be of any significant impact," Attah said.

While Dr. Nakhle was all ears, she stressed Africa's responsibility to eliminate flaring for sustainable production. "Just by increasing the penalty on gas flaring, you motivate the companies to actually still produce oil and gas with lower carbon intensity, because I think that would be the winning step for the future, and not to continue with what was a good old fashioned way of producing oil and gas."

According to Attah, flaring has been a focus area for most creditors as part of decarbonisation strategy, which aligns with attaining zero routine flare by 2030. With engineers working on projects to deal with gas storm compression infrastructure that are capable of moving gas from flood centres to the market, there has been a massive reduction in flare now. 

Gas is already driving Africa's energy narrative, with around 620 trillion standard cubic feet coming solely from Algeria, Mozambique and Nigeria. The world has come to Africa with massive investments, not just for international market but also the domestic market. The nation is hence way past the stage of "making a case", as now its just a matter of the investments unleashing the potential that is trapped in all these countries.

"Gas is going to be the game changer for us. So we are looking to develop our gas resources and export the gas to derive the financing for developing the country, and bridging the infrastructure gap," said AGPC's managing director, Effiong Okon, as he gave some perspective on Nigeria's national budget against the infrastructure budget of European countries.

"We have a budget of just about 20 something million dollars. That is for the whole country, and 45% of that goes to debt service. Another 15% goes to security. So you have 60% of the budget locked in debt service and security. And with that, you really cannot build infrastructure. You need to improve the standard of living. It becomes impossible. I checked on some of the European countries, Germany, for example, for just for infrastructure in 2026 [it is] going to spend close to US$200bn. So we really need to find the prosperity to develop," he said. 

Dr. Nakhle also raised the question of Africa's biggest paradox. "Africa is rich in energy resources, and yet it is poor when it comes to energy consumption. What do you think needs to change to change this reality on the ground?" she asked.

Attah's answer was that Africa is looking at a typically extractive industry when it comes to oil and gas. While the resource belongs to the nation, it was entirely under the control of international oil companies. Due to this structural dislocation, IOCs will extract, go and develop their respective countries with it. But now with majors announcing massive divestments on the back of onshore maturation, companies like Renaissance were feeling the heat. "But I have to thank NNPC for just supporting the divestment to go through. So we bought the share assets, and you can imagine that our philosophy and vision will be different from that of an IOC. We have a very audacious vision to be the African leader in energy. The IOC will not want to be the African leader in energy. They want to be the global leaders, but we want to be the African leader in energy. We want to enable energy security, [and] we want to bring about the industrialisation of Nigeria. Now that was not an assignment for the IOC...We are now taking our destinies in our hands to the extent that we will have no choice than to ensure that that shared prosperity from this energy resource base changes the narrative. On behalf of Nigerians, starting from Nigeria, pivoting to rest of Africa, which is why we like to say as Renaissance, we were made in Nigeria, built for Africa," he said. 

On the energy transition front, Silvia Macri, Middle East and Africa lead, Power & Renewables, S&P Global, said, "If you think about diversification, some countries in western Africa, Kenya in eastern Africa, are pushing either away from a fossil fuel heavy energy mix, or diversifying the sources, instead of having one major source of the produces, power or energy for the country; just choosing all the different options that are available. And this is something that South Africa, for example, has started doing at a faster pace. Kenya is probably the country where this has happened at the highest level, because it has a huge availability of geothermal resources, which allowed the diversification into renewables, but western African countries are bringing gas generation in the mix together with renewables...going forward, [it is important that] the decisions that they're making are more for the longer term, and they're not just solving the problem that is immediate."