Toronto-listed Africa Oil has given companies extra time to assess the merits of bidding for a stake stake in a likely gas-rich block it operates offshore Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea – under the watch of Hydrocarbons Minister Antonio Oburu Ondo – has seen a recent revival in upstream investments due to, among others, a reduction in corporation tax, the need to secure more feedstock for a liquefied natural gas plant on Bioko Island and a willingness of oil companies to drill.