A new wave of exploration is gathering momentum across Africa’s oil and gas sector, as advances in seismic imaging, faster permitting processes and AI-ready data sets begin to reshape how the continent’s untapped basins are approached.
At this week’s Africa Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2025 in Cape Town, leading industry executives described a shift in attitude and capability — one that could unlock previously inaccessible reserves and redefine Africa’s place in the global energy map.
Emmanuelle Garinet, Vice President of Exploration Africa at TotalEnergies, said the continent’s frontier basins continue to hold “significant volumes”, pointing to Namibia’s Venus discovery as a symbol of how far subsurface imaging has advanced.
“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,” she said. “We got our permit in less than six months and are preparing for drilling by the end of the year.”
Garinet contrasted the speed of operations in the Republic of Congo with delays elsewhere. “South Africa’s permitting system has faced delays due to legal challenges, which is unacceptable when exploration budgets are already limited globally,” she added.
From Chevron, Chief Executive Gavin Lewis argued that Africa’s next stage of growth depends on the availability of detailed regional datasets. “Before you can do any AI-driven workflows, you need a dataset that illuminates what the subsurface looks like,” he said. “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.”
Bryan Ritchie, bp’s Vice President of Exploration, cited recent survey work in Egypt’s Nile Delta as a model for the region. The company completed the first deepwater ocean-bottom node seismic survey over the Atoll field, while the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company is expanding multi-client data coverage across the wider delta. “We’re seeing new opportunities for these images,” Ritchie said.
The conversation extended beyond exploration. Terry Gebhardt, Vice President of Exploration at Woodside Energy, noted that the same geoscience tools are vital for the energy transition. “Subsurface data are key to carbon capture and storage projects as well as maximising efficacy and recovery in existing fields,” he explained.
The discussion, hosted by EnerGeo Alliance, underscored how investment is ramping up alongside technology. Nikki Martin, the Alliance’s President and CEO, forecast that capital expenditure across Africa’s oil and gas industry will rise to $54 billion by 2030, following a $6 billion surge in exploration spending in 2024.
If realised, this technological and financial momentum could mark the start of an African exploration renaissance — one powered as much by data science as by drilling rigs.