• Equatorial Guinea will open a new oil and gas licensing round in April 2026, offering 24 blocks.

• Oil output has fallen from 241,000 barrels per day in 2010 to 55,000 in 2023, pushing major firms to exit.

• Malabo is betting on gas projects, including a $690 million deal with Chevron and a $4.5 billion LNG plan.

Equatorial Guinea will open a new oil and gas licensing round in April 2026, the country’s Minister of Hydrocarbons and Mineral Development, Antonio Oburu Ondo, announced on Monday. The tender, which will run until November 2026, will place 24 blocks on offer, including two onshore and the rest offshore.

Since reaching a peak of 241,000 barrels per day in 2010, national production has dropped to 55,000 barrels per day in 2023, according to OPEC. The 15-year decline has already led several majors to scale back or leave, including ExxonMobil, which exited in 2024 after nearly three decades in the country.

According to the African Development Bank, hydrocarbons account for 42% of GDP, 95% of exports, and 90% of public revenue. Yet recent initiatives to diversify and revive the sector have failed to reverse the decline. The 2019 licensing round fell short of expectations, while the Fortuna FLNG project, once planned as Africa’s first deepwater liquefaction terminal, collapsed after more than a decade of efforts due to lack of financing.

The new round comes as the economy is expected to remain weak. The IMF forecasts average annual growth of 0.9% between 2025 and 2030, directly tied to the decline in hydrocarbons.

To counter this outlook, Malabo is betting on gas development. The country recently signed a $690 million deal with Chevron to develop the Aseng project and is reviving major ventures such as Block EG-27. That $4.5 billion gas project, backed by Afreximbank, includes a planned liquefied natural gas facility that could produce 2.4 million tons of LNG per year over 20 years, a cornerstone of Equatorial Guinea’s recovery strategy.