What an exciting finish to the U.S. Women’s Open Golf Tournament on Sunday! World #1-ranked golfer Nelly Korda won her second major in 2026 by one stroke. She was impressive and kept her cool to win the fourth major of her career.
Tomorrow, we will host two special guest speakers in the AAPG webinar “Canada: Emerging Investment and Growth Opportunities:” Kevin Burn, the chief analyst of the Canadian oil market at S&P Global Energy Horizons and Jackie Forest, executive director for ARC Energy Research Institute and managing director of ARC Financial Corp. Here is the link to register. We hope you will join us at noon!
Now let’s take a look at two pieces of energy news from Africa.
Shangyou Nie
Editor, Well Read
Petrobras Enters Ivory Coast, Signing Eight New Deepwater Blocks
Saulo Ferreira Angelo/Shutterstock.com
Petrobras, one of the industry leaders within the deepwater space, signed eight new exploration blocks in Ivory Coast—extending its footprint beyond Brazil. Petrobras is one of a handful of national oil companies in competition with IOCs for overseas growth opportunities.
Deal details:
According to Welligence, Petrobras signed eight new Production Sharing Contracts for deepwater exploration in Ivory Coast last week.
With these eight new blocks, Petrobras became the largest acreage holder in Ivory Coast.
It holds 63,000 square kilometers in the eight new blocks: CI-513, CI-600, CI-601, CI-602, CI-603, CI-605, CI-701, and CI-702
Petrobras’ exact equity in these blocks was undisclosed. Typically, Ivory Coast company PetroCI holds 20 percent, while the operator investor holds 80 percent.
After the latest signing, the Ivory Coast government said some 75 percent of available acreage is now licensed for E&P activities.
Background:
According to Petrobras’ annual report, it submitted a declaration of interest to explore nine blocks in Ivory Coast in 2025.
According to Gordon Hardie, head of Welligence’s Sub-Saharan Africa team, Petrobras had a hold on the nine blocks for about a year.
In addition to the latest Petrobras signing, in late May, ENI announced that it has taken FID for Baleine Phase 3 production.
Baleine is the largest oil and gas discovery in Ivory Coast.
With Baleine Phase 3, ENI will increase its operated production from 60,000 barrels of oil and 80 million cubic feet of gas to 150,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Petrobras’s deepwater experience:
Petrobras was a world leader in deepwater exploration and production as early as the 1980s.
It is by far the world’s biggest deepwater producer, with particular strength in seismic imaging, drilling, and production for pre-salt reservoirs.
In Q1 2026, Petrobras was the operator for 4.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day production, 2.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day net.
Petrobras has tried to extend its deepwater expertise overseas, albeit with limited success.
Petrobras has one of the largest deepwater exploration budgets in the world, allocating $7.1 billion for exploration between 2026 and 2030. It spent $1.2 billion on exploration in 2025.
Petrobras is focusing on the conjugate continental margins of western Africa, where a similar petroleum system developed as South America and Africa drifted apart to form the Atlantic Ocean since the Jurassic period.
Petrobras' portfolio:
Petrobras has five blocks in South Africa, Namibia, and São Tomé and Principe in addition to the latest Ivory Coast blocks.
In South America, Petrobras has upstream investments in Bolivia, Colombia, and Argentina.
In North America, Petrobras has 6,900 barrels of oil equivalent equity of production in the Gulf of Mexico (America) from a non-operated 20 percent interest in a joint venture with Murphy Oil.
According to Welligence, Petrobras is negotiating with Pemex for exploration acreage in Mexico.
What to watch:
Which country will enable Petrobras to make its breakthrough by establishing a new deepwater production base?
Two other leading NOCs in overseas E&P investments are China’s CNPC and Malaysia’s Petronas.
CNPC is the world’s largest onshore producer outside its base country.
Will more NOCs follow Petrobras’ lead to seek overseas upstream investment opportunities as the pace of the energy transition slows?
Algeria Begins Construction of the Long-Awaited Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline
Karabin/ Shutterstock.com
Sonatrach, Algeria’s national oil and gas company, broke ground last week to start construction of the Algerian segment of the 4,128-kilometer Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline. TSGP will traverse Algeria, Niger, and Nigeria. It will deliver up to 30 billion cubic meters of Nigerian gas to Europe each year.
2,424 kilometers in Algeria. Only about half of this segment will be newly built, as Algeria will use some of its existing gas infrastructure.
720 kilometers in Niger. The Niger segment is scheduled to start construction in 2027.
1,185 kilometers in Nigeria
The TSGP will be operated by a joint venture between the three countries. Nigeria’s national company, NNPC, and Sonatrach will hold 90 percent, and Niger will hold 10 percent.
The TSGP will have a diameter of 48–56 inches (1,220–1,420 millimeters).
The TGSP has gained added importance due to:
Europe trying to become independent of Russian pipeline gas
The TSGP will be connected to Europe through a subsea pipeline via Sicily, Italy.
The ongoing conflict in Iran
Qatar, one of the largest LNG providers globally, declaring force majeure
A start date for operations of the TGSP has not been announced.
Pipeline timeline:
The concept of the TSGP began in the 1970s.
NNPC and Sonatrach signed the first Memorandum of Understanding in 2002.
In 2009, Nigeria, Niger, and Algeria signed an intergovernmental agreement, initially proposing to have the TGSP operational by 2015.
It has since been delayed several times due to concerns around pipeline safety.
International companies, including Shell, TotalEnergies, ENI, and Russia’s Gazprom, reportedly showed interest in joining the TSGP at various times.
The current state of pipeline gas in these three countries:
According to the Energy Institute’s annual world energy statistic review, Nigeria has Africa’s largest proven gas reserves at 193 trillion cubic feet, followed by Algeria at 81 trillion cubic feet.
Nigeria exports some of its gas production via seven LNG trains.
At the current production level (4.2 billion cubic feet per day), Nigeria has 110 years of gas production life without any new discoveries.
In comparison, Algeria has 28 years of gas production life, as it produces 9.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
Algeria is already a gas supplier through existing gas pipelines to Spain, Italy, and France.
What to watch:
Intriguingly, this important milestone for the mega African energy project has drawn very little attention in Western media, excluding coverage in Bloomberg.
When will Nigeria start construction on its segment of the pipeline?
How will these three countries work together to ensure safe gas delivery through the pipeline, once completed?
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