Africa’s oil and gas sector could be on the brink of a new exploration renaissance, driven by advances in seismic imaging, frontier data sets, and faster permitting processes, according to industry leaders. The continent’s frontier basins hold significant volumes of untapped resources, with modern technology helping to reduce exploration risks.
Emmanuelle Garinet, VP of Exploration Africa at TotalEnergies, pointed to Namibia as an example of how seismic and subsurface data can de-risk projects. “When we decided to drill the Venus well, it was frontier, but we had a probability of success of more than 50% because of the seismic data and direct hydrocarbon indicators,” Garinet explained.
In the Republic of Congo, TotalEnergies’ exploration permitting process is moving at a markedly faster pace. The company received its permit in less than six months and is preparing for drilling by the end of the year. By contrast, South Africa’s permitting system has faced delays due to legal challenges, which Garinet described as unacceptable given limited budgets for global exploration.
Gavin Lewis, General Manager New Ventures at Chevron, emphasized the critical role of comprehensive subsurface datasets in Africa. “Before you can do any AI-driven workflows, you need a dataset that illuminates what the subsurface looks like. What Africa has lost is the ability to sponsor multi-client subsurface datasets. The only basin that allows for large, regional high-quality datasets is the Gulf of America, which has allowed that basin to reinvent itself multiple times,” Lewis said.
Bryan Ritchie, VP of Exploration for bp, highlighted survey work in Egypt’s Nile Delta, where the company completed the first deepwater ocean-bottom node seismic survey over the Atoll field. The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company plans to expand multi-client data coverage across a larger area of the delta, opening new opportunities for exploration.
Terry Gebhardt, VP of Exploration at Woodside Energy, noted that geoscience and subsurface data are also key to carbon capture and storage projects, as well as maximizing efficacy and recovery in existing fields.
Nikki Martin, President and CEO of EnerGeo Alliance, revealed that African oil and gas capital expenditure is expected to rise to $54 billion by 2030, following a $6 billion surge in exploration spending in 2024.
Source: worldoil.com