Faced with declining production post-2030, across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Majors have started the process of reloading exploration hoppers. Targeting predominantly deep and ultra-deep waters, they have signed numerous agreements aimed…
Faced with declining production post-2030, across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Majors have started the process of reloading exploration hoppers. Targeting predominantly deep and ultra-deep waters, they have signed numerous agreements aimed at unlocking acreage and discovering the next Namibia or Guyana. But while there have been agreements for acreage that were offered as part of traditional licensing rounds – such as the award to TotalEnergies of PPLs 2000 and 2001 in Nigeria in September 2025 – there has been an increasing trend to sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoU), Agreements in Principle (AiP) or Reconnaissance Licences (RL) for exploration acreage.
In total and including agreements signed by Petrobras and Woodside Energy, over 360,000 km2, an area ~1.6 times the size of the Permian Basin, is covered by these various agreements.
Shell has been the most active, securing early-stage agreements in Angola, Ghana and Sierra Leone, while Equinor, Sonangol, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Petrobras and Woodside have also agreed terms across Angolan acreage. Further north, bp and ExxonMobil are advancing towards formal PSCs in Gabon; Eni, Chevron and Galp have entered Equatorial Guinea; and 1Petrobras held exclusive negotiating rights over a large swathe of Côte d'Ivoire blocks. In non-producing countries, Eni has been particularly
Content Original Link:
" target="_blank">
