Staff Writer 05:08 pm | U.S oil giant Exxon Mobil Corporation has signed 20-year leases on three major oil fields in Nigeria after strained negotiations between the company and the West African nation’s government, officials announced Wednesday. Negotiations dragged on for months between the Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil and the Nigerian government, with confusion over…

Staff Writer 04:46 pm | British utility Centrica Plc, the parent company of  British Gas, agreed Wednesday to acquire French producer Total E&P’s North Sea   oil and gas assets for $388 million. Centrica believes the deal will increase its reserves by around five percent, producing 9,300 barrels of oil per day in 2012. The assets…

Staff Writer 04:36 pm | Royal Dutch Shell Plc has made an agreed 992.4 million pounds ($1.6 billion) bid for Mozambique-focused Cove Energy, offering a full price to open up a new gas frontier for the Anglo-Dutch oil major in East Africa. Shell has offered 195 pence per share in cash, which Cove’s directors said…

Staff Writer 05:58 pm | British gas and oil firm BG Group plans to step up its presence in gas exploration in east Africa’s second-biggest economy by investing $500 million in Tanzania this year, the government said on Tuesday. The east African coastline is fast becoming a major gas hub with even bigger discoveries made…

Staff Writer 05:52 pm | Attacks on oil pipelines, a dearth of funding from the state oil firm and regulatory uncertainty have dampened appetite for exploration of  Nigeria’s huge oil and gas reserves, its biggest producer Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday. In a speech to an oil and gas conference in the capital Abuja,…

Staff Writer 05:41 pm | Tullow Oil announced that it has completed the farm-down of 66.67% of its Ugandan licenses to CNOOC and Total for a consideration of $2.9 billion. The farm-down follows the recent signing of Production Sharing Agreements and the Kingfisher production license with the Government of Uganda. Tullow, CNOOC and France’s Total…