ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria now has 18 Ebola cases, after a fourth case surfaced in Port Harcourt, home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, the health minister said on Wednesday.

CONAKRY/DAKAR (Reuters) - Guinea's government said on Wednesday that Ebola had spread to a previously unaffected region of the country, as U.S. experts warned that the worst ever outbreak of the deadly virus was spiralling out of control in West Africa.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The cost of getting supplies needed to West African countries to get the Ebola crisis under control will be at least $600 million, Dr David Nabarro, the senior United Nations Coordinator for Ebola Disease, told reporters on Wednesday.

MAIDUGURI Nigeria - Boko Haram insurgents have seized an unguarded town in northeast Nigeria without a shot being fired, witnesses said on Wednesday.

ACCRA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Lukoil-Overseas said it found oil and gas at its Cape Three Points Deep Water block off the coast of Ghana, and according to the energy minister, it now has a 90-day test period to determine whether the find is commercially viable.

MASERU (Reuters) - Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane returned to State House in the capital Maseru on Wednesday, four days after he fled to South Africa following an apparent bid by the military to oust him, an aide said.

MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - The Nigerian town of Bama remains under government control after an assault by Boko Haram, the Borno state government and local vigilante groups said on Wednesday, contradicting reports that the Islamist group had seized much of it.

ACCRA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Lukoil Offshore said on Wednesday it found high showings of oil and gas at its Cape Three Points Deep Water block off the coast of Ghana and the Energy Minister said Lukoil was in a 90-day period of testing whether the finding was commercially viable.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Armed pirates robbed an petroleum products tanker near Ivory Coast's port of Abidjan, a maritime agency and a private security advisor said on Wednesday, in an indication of the increasing mobility of Nigeria-based gangs.

ABIDJAN, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Armed pirates robbed an petroleum products tanker near Ivory Coast's port of Abidjan, a maritime agency and a private security advisor said on Wednesday, in an indication of the increasing mobility of Nigeria-based gangs.

WASHINGTON/NIAMEY (Reuters) - The United States is preparing a possible redeployment of its drones in Niger to set up a forward base in the Sahara closer to Islamist militants blamed for attacks across the region, U.S. military and Defense Department officials said.

BANGUI (Reuters) - Elections set for February in Central African Republic to consummate a democratic transition after a March 2013 coup will probably be delayed because of persisting insecurity, the deputy head of the interim parliament said on Tuesday.

BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) - Three people were killed and nine injured when a Libyan war plane crashed on Tuesday in a residential part of the eastern city of Tobruk, residents and medics said.

MONROVIA (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa was causing food shortages in one of the world's poorest regions and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the disease was threatening the stability of stricken countries and their neighbors.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A U.S. military airstrike in Somalia has targeted the leader of the Islamist militant group al Shabaab, Somali and U.S. officials said on Tuesday, but they added it may take time to determine whether Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed.

NAIROBI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Wednesday. - - - - - EVENTS: *KENYA - Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee holds its rate-setting meeting. At its last meeting in July, the central bank held its key lending rate at 8.50 percent. *KENYA - Central Bank of Kenya auctions 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills worth a total 8 billio