Regional shifts are the focus of this story: Africa has become the center of the latest upstream acreage expansion as operators rebuild exploration portfolios. Enverus Intelligence Research counted 187 country entries or reentries completed or under consideration from the first half of 2025 through the first half of 2026. About half were in Africa.
Interest is concentrated in West Africa, led by deepwater acreage along the Atlantic Margin. North African governments have also renewed operator interest through new bid rounds. Companies are often using reconnaissance permits and memoranda of understanding to screen broad positions before making larger commitments.
Rystad Energy expects Africa to host 17 of the 42 high impact exploration wells planned worldwide in 2026. That represents roughly 40 percent of the global total, with the Orange Basin and Gulf of Guinea driving much of the activity. The success rate for high impact wildcat wells rose from 23 percent in 2024 to 38 percent in 2025, while discovered volumes climbed 53 percent to about 2.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
The current phase remains more screening cycle than drilling cycle. The next measure of operator appetite will be how many early access agreements become full exploration licenses, what drilling commitments follow, and how much acreage returns to the market. Africa offers large resource potential, but companies still have to convert portfolio options into funded wells and development plans.