Africa Oil and Gas Exploration to Surge with Advanced Data, Faster Permitting, and $54 Billion Investment by 2030
Africa’s oil and gas industry may be entering a new era of exploration, driven by advances in seismic imaging, frontier datasets, and streamlined permitting processes, according to industry leaders at Africa Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2025.
Emmanuelle Garinet, Vice President of Exploration Africa at TotalEnergies, pointed to Africa’s frontier basins as a key driver of growth, citing Namibia’s Venus well as a prime example.
“When we drilled the Venus well, it was a frontier project, but we had over a 50% probability of success thanks to high-quality seismic data and direct hydrocarbon indicators,” she said.
Garinet also highlighted the rapid permitting process in the Republic of Congo, noting that TotalEnergies secured a permit in under six months — a sharp contrast to delays in South Africa caused by legal challenges. “Such delays are unacceptable given the limited budgets for global exploration,” she added.
Gavin Lewis, CEO of Chevron, stressed the importance of robust subsurface datasets. “Before any AI-driven workflows, you need datasets that clearly reveal the subsurface,” he said, noting Africa’s limited capacity to sponsor multi-client datasets compared to regions such as the Gulf of America.
Bryan Ritchie, Vice President of Exploration for bp, spotlighted Egypt’s Nile Delta, where bp completed the first deepwater ocean-bottom node seismic survey over the Atoll field.
He noted that the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company plans to expand multi-client data coverage across the delta, unlocking new exploration opportunities.
Terry Gebhardt, Vice President of Exploration at Woodside Energy, emphasised that geoscience and subsurface data are critical not only for exploration but also for carbon capture initiatives and optimising recovery from existing fields.
The panel discussion, sponsored by EnerGeo Alliance, also revealed strong investment potential for Africa’s oil and gas sector.
Nikki Martin, President and CEO of EnerGeo Alliance, said capital expenditure is projected to reach $54 billion by 2030, following a $6 billion increase in exploration spending in 2024.
