African countries are increasingly choosing to hand over parcels of overlooked assets to majors and top-tier international independents to evaluate and decide if they want to proceed with negotiations for valid permits to operate the blocks.
In early May, 2026, Angola signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Woodside Energy, Australia’s largest independent, establishing an initial study period to identify potential investment in blocks 25, 26 and 43, and setting the basis for collaboration on geological and geophysical data evaluation, including 2D and 3D seismic, well reports and other technical information.
In that same week, US major Chevron agreed with Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) to evaluate unconventional shale oil and gas potential in the Sirte, Murzuq, and Ghadames basins. The partnership aims to assess potential resources of up to 123Trillion cubic feet of gas and 18Billion barrels of oil.
A week after Woodside’s Angolan MoU and Chevron’s Libyan signatures were inked, French major TOTAL announced it had signed an MoU with Egypt’s state hydrocarbon firm Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) company, covering exploration activities on a large area located in the north-western offshore of Egypt. “The MoU establishes a framework for technical cooperation including preliminary exploration and subsurface evaluation activities”, EGAS declared.
Ghana is exploring similar possibilities with Shell, the UK major. Equatorial Guinea has inked Reconnaissance Licences with ENI on six acreages in 2026 and signed Heads of Terms with ConocoPhillips in four tracts between 2025 and 2026.
Algeria had made similar moves much earlier. In May 2024, the state hydrocarbon firm, Sonatrach inked an MoU with ExxonMobil to explore and develop the Ahnet and Gourara basins, two key areas in southern Algeria rich in unconventional gas. In January 2025, the country’s regulator, Algerian National Agency for the Development of Hydrocarbons (ALNAFT) formalized a cooperation agreement with Chevron for several offshore projects.
In all these agreements, there are no mandates or obligations, tied to the usual exploration licence. The expectations from these MoUs are documents to point the way to open up areas that would otherwise have been ignored in the bid round process, and left undeveloped. Nigeria is not yet in the party. The country’s Petroleum Industry Act does not leave room for this kind of special relationships. To take charge of any part of even the least explored sedimentary basin in the country, a company has to join in the annual contest to secure a Petroleum Prospecting Licence.
