Major Operators Strengthen West Africa Offshore Blocks

By Inspenet. February 5, 2026.

LONDON / ABUJA – February 5, 2026.
Major international oil companies are ramping up their acquisition of offshore blocks in West Africa, driven by recent discoveries and the search for new provinces with potential comparable to Brazil’s pre-salt, according to Reuters.

Chevron, TotalEnergies and Shell are among the operators increasing exposure in the region, signing new exploration and production agreements across Nigeria, Angola, Congo and Guinea-Bissau.

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New blocks and geology comparable to Brazil

Since 2020, West Africa has recorded discoveries exceeding 8.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, largely in deepwater and ultra-deepwater plays, Reuters reported. Analysts cited by the agency note that several structures show geological similarities to the basins that underpinned Brazil’s pre-salt boom.

This potential has revived interest in a region that, for years, lagged behind Latin America and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in capital allocation.

Reserve replacement and long-term strategy

The renewed push reflects the need to replace reserves amid ageing fields and tighter capital discipline. For oil majors, West Africa offers a combination of:

large-scale resource potential,
evolving regulatory frameworks,
early-cycle entry opportunities.

In Angola, fiscal and contractual reforms have helped draw back companies that had scaled down exposure over the past decade, according to Reuters.

Technical and operational implications

The return of majors to African offshore plays comes with significant technical challenges. Projects are concentrated in deepwater environments, requiring:

floating production systems (FPSOs),
complex subsea architectures,
advanced asset integrity, inspection and maintenance programs across the full field life cycle.

For the service supply chain, this points to sustained demand for specialized engineering, NDT, subsea inspection and reliability solutions, particularly during early development and operations.

Global market context

The renewed focus on West Africa comes as operators seek to balance shareholder returns with selective high-impact exploration. While deepwater offshore projects carry higher costs and technical risk, their scale and upside potential keep them firmly on the strategic radar of the majors.