TotalEnergies, Chevron Call for Faster Permits and Stronger Data to Power Africa’s Next Oil and Gas Boom

Africa’s oil and gas sector could be entering a new era of exploration, powered by advanced seismic imaging, improved data access, and faster permitting processes, according to industry leaders speaking at the Africa Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2025 in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Emmanuelle Garinet, Vice President of Exploration Africa at TotalEnergies, said the continent’s frontier basins hold vast untapped resources. She cited Namibia as an example of how improved seismic and subsurface data can help de-risk exploration 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.

Garinet noted that TotalEnergies’ exploration permitting in the Republic of Congo has been moving at an unprecedented pace. “We got our permit in less than six months and are preparing for drilling by the end of the year,” she said. However, she criticised South Africa’s slower process, saying delays caused by legal challenges are “unacceptable” given limited global exploration budgets.

Chevron’s CEO, Gavin Lewis, echoed the call for stronger data infrastructure across the continent. “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, pointed to ongoing survey work in Egypt’s Nile Delta, where the company recently completed the first deepwater ocean-bottom node seismic survey over the Atoll field. He added that the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company plans to expand multi-client data coverage across a wider area of the delta. “We’re seeing new opportunities for these images,” Ritchie said.

Terry Gebhardt, Vice President of Exploration at Woodside Energy, said geoscience and subsurface data are not only vital for exploration but also play a growing role in carbon capture and storage projects, as well as “maximizing efficacy and recovery” in existing oil fields.

The discussion, sponsored by EnerGeo Alliance, highlighted a renewed wave of investment in Africa’s oil and gas sector. Nikki Martin, President and CEO of EnerGeo Alliance, said capital expenditure across the continent is projected to reach $54 billion by 2030, driven by a $6 billion surge in exploration spending this year alone.