Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has said the country plans to launch a licensing round for offshore gas exploration at the beginning of 2012.

Gulfsands Petroleum PLC has announced that ADX Energy Ltd, the operator of the Kerkouane Exploration Licence offshore Tunisia has provided the results of an internal study which was undertaken to provide a preliminary volumetric estimate of the potential hydrocarbon resource associated with the Lambouka gas discovery.

Yemen's ministry of Oil and Minerals opened up a fifth bidding round for 10 oil and gas exploration blocks.

Exploration at the Jenein Centre-1 well in Tunisia has been suspended due to an unsuccessful completion attempt on the first formation tested.

Dana Gas PJSC and its partner and joint operator Crescent Petroleum have given a technical update on the progress of their joint operations two years since they started production from their major gas project in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.