• Nigerian oil firms expand in Africa, led by FIRST E&P’s new deal in Tanzania.
• Past ventures include projects in Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, and Namibia.
• Local firms gain ground as global majors exit Nigerian oil assets.

Nigerian oil companies are increasingly exploring new fields across Africa, venturing beyond their domestic borders. This emerging trend, though still small, became more prominent with the agreement FIRST E&P signed on Tuesday, July 22, to assess Tanzania's Mnazi Bay North gas block. Under the agreement with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), the Nigerian firm will finance initial technical studies. This follows a broader trend among Nigerian junior companies that have been active in continental exploration for over a decade.

For example, in 2019, Waltersmith Petroman Oil Limited acquired a 40% stake in offshore block EG-23 in Equatorial Guinea, alongside Hawtai Energy, also 40%, and national company GEPetrol, 20%.

Although these interests were taken over in June 2025 under a new production sharing contract where Panoro holds an 80% stake, Waltersmith's initial project remains one of the first documented incursions by a Nigerian operator into offshore exploration outside the Gulf of Guinea.

Two years earlier, in 2017, Oranto Petroleum was awarded two exploration blocks, Ngassa Deep and Ngassa Shallow, on the shores of Lake Albert in Uganda. In December 2023, the Ugandan government extended these licenses until December 2025, allowing the company to continue exploration and appraisal drilling activities.

As early as 2013, Lekoil acquired a majority interest in two offshore blocks in Namibia, off the Luderitz Basin. The operation, conducted through a locally registered subsidiary, aimed to position the company in a sector then little explored but considered promising.

These ventures beyond Nigerian borders are occurring amid a transformation of the national oil landscape. Facing structural challenges in the local oil industry, international majors such as Shell, ExxonMobil, and Eni have gradually withdrawn from onshore and shallow water assets in recent years. This shift has benefited local operators, who now account for over half of the country's crude oil production, currently around 1.5 million barrels per day.

Operating within a more structured regulatory framework, particularly with institutional support from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), some of these companies can now establish themselves outside the country in African nations seeking experienced investors.

A Rystad Energy study published in early July indicated that the gradual withdrawal of majors from mature African assets creates real opportunities for regional players. The report noted that these movements open space for independent companies capable of undertaking exploration, even beyond their historical base.

Abdel-Latif Boureima