Under sanction pressure, Lukoil is divesting its foreign oil assets, drawing interest from international players like the UAE's ADNOC. Yet, no African national oil company has exercised its pre-emption rights to bid on the stakes being offloaded in projects from Nigeria to Ghana.

As several international companies move to acquire foreign oil assets being sold by Russia’s Lukoil, no African state-owned company has yet been identified as a potential buyer. Under the terms of existing contracts, the sale of these stakes gives African National Oil Companies (NOCs) an opportunity to expand their role in projects where they are already partners.

Lukoil’s overseas portfolio, valued at about $22 billion according to international media on Tuesday, November 18, includes interests in a number of African projects, notably in Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, and Ghana. In many cases, petroleum contracts give state-owned companies in these countries a pre-emption right, allowing them to buy a stake before it is offered to outside bidders. Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry Act, for instance, explicitly grants the state a pre-emption right when a license is transferred.

Exercising such rights would fit into a wider trend across Africa’s energy sector. In recent years, several governments have pushed to strengthen the role of their NOCs by tightening local content rules, updating legislation, and seeking a larger share of the value created by oil and gas projects.

For now, however, there is no indication that any African NOC plans to bid for the assets on the market. Not all the assets on offer are aligned with the companies’ strategies or their financial and technical capabilities. In addition, any new partner would still need approval from the host governments before joining these blocks.

Abdel-Latif Boureima