Published by ANZ Global Group LLC FZ | anzglobalgroup.com
Africa’s upstream oil and gas sector is no longer a market on the horizon. It is active, accelerating, and attracting serious capital.
Upstream investment across the continent reached USD 40 billion in 2025 and is forecast to rise to USD 41 billion in 2026 — with capital expenditure projected to hit USD 54 billion by 2030. Africa is expected to account for approximately 40% of all high-impact exploration wells drilled globally in 2026. Deepwater drillship day rates are already approaching USD 400,000 per day, with utilisation tightening further from 2027.
These are not projections built on optimism. They are being driven by active developments across Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, and Mauritania — ranging from deepwater LNG to frontier basin exploration to first-oil production programmes scheduled for 2026.
For industrial supply chains serving the oil and gas sector, this level of activity creates both significant opportunity and specific operational challenges. The companies best positioned to serve Africa’s upstream expansion are not necessarily the largest — they are the ones who understand how to execute in these markets.
The Scale of What Is Being Built
The breadth of active upstream development across Africa right now is worth understanding in detail.
In East Africa, Uganda’s Tilenga development — a joint project involving TotalEnergies, CNOOC, and the Uganda National Oil Company — reported 70% overall completion as of mid-2025, with first oil targeted for 2026 and peak production projected at 190,000 barrels per day. Material is moving via the 1,443-kilometre East African Crude Oil Pipeline to Tanzania.
In West Africa, Nigeria remains the continent’s largest producer and is targeting 2.5 million barrels per day, while simultaneously leading Africa’s downstream expansion — the Dangote Refinery, at 650,000 bpd, began operations in 2024 and is already reshaping regional fuel trade. Angola is advancing the Lobito and Soyo refineries toward 2030 completion.
In Southern Africa, Namibia’s Venus and Mopane discoveries — among the most significant deepwater finds of the past decade — are targeting first oil before the end of the decade, drawing sustained interest from international operators.
Across North and West Africa, licensing rounds are attracting fresh investment into both frontier plays and mature basin redevelopment. The Republic of Congo is driving toward 500,000 bpd with a new gas code and licensing framework in place.
The cumulative picture is a continent with multiple simultaneous upstream programmes at various stages — exploration, development, production, and refinery expansion — across geography that stretches from the Mediterranean coast to the Southern Atlantic.
What This Means for Supply Chains
Upstream activity at this scale generates sustained and specific demand for industrial materials. OCTG — casing, tubing, drill pipe — is the most direct requirement, tied to well count and drilling programme intensity. But the broader supply requirement extends to line pipe for gathering and transport infrastructure, flanges and fittings for processing facilities, downhole accessories and cementing equipment for drilling operations, and drilling chemicals and cementing additives supporting active well campaigns.
The supply chain challenge in Africa is not simply finding the materials. It is getting them to the right location, in the right condition, with the right documentation, within project timelines that are frequently fixed by drilling contractor schedules and operator commitments.
Several factors make African supply chain execution more demanding than comparable work in more established markets:
Documentation and import compliance. Each African producing country operates its own import documentation requirements, and these are not uniform. What clears customs efficiently in Nigeria may require additional certification in Angola or different traceability documentation in Mozambique. A supplier unfamiliar with the destination country’s specific requirements risks delays at port that can run into weeks.
Logistics complexity. Port infrastructure, inland logistics capacity, and last-mile delivery vary significantly across the continent. Supply coordination that works smoothly in a GCC hub port environment requires a different approach in sub-Saharan Africa, where infrastructure limitations and longer lead times need to be built into planning from the start.
Lead time management. African upstream projects often operate under tight mobilisation windows tied to drilling rig availability and operator scheduling. A late OCTG delivery does not just cost money — it can cost drilling days at day rates that make the delayed material cost look modest by comparison.
Local content and certification requirements. Several African producing countries have local content frameworks that affect how supply chains are structured. Understanding these requirements in advance — rather than discovering them after a PO is placed — is part of what experienced supply partners bring to African market work.
Where Supply Execution Becomes a Competitive Advantage
The companies supplying industrial materials into Africa’s upstream sector successfully are not succeeding purely on product availability or price. They are succeeding because they understand how to execute in these markets — how to manage the documentation, coordinate the logistics, verify the materials, and deliver within the timelines that active drilling programmes demand.
This is precisely the model ANZ Global Group has built its Africa supply experience around.
ANZ has supported large-volume casing and tubing supply for African upstream operations, coordinating sourcing from certified mills, managing inspection through internationally recognised agencies, and navigating the documentation and logistics requirements of African destination markets. That experience is operational, not theoretical — it reflects the realities of supply execution in markets where the margin for error is narrower than it looks from the outside.
As Africa’s upstream sector moves through its current expansion phase — more wells, more projects, more producing countries, more international operator activity — the demand for reliable, execution-focused industrial supply partners will only grow.
Looking Ahead
Africa’s oil and gas expansion is not a single event. It is a decade-long capital deployment cycle across a continent with substantial proven reserves, active licensing frameworks, and growing operator confidence.
For supply chain partners positioned to serve it — with the right sourcing networks, documentation discipline, inspection coordination capability, and delivery follow-through — the opportunity is real and growing.
ANZ Global Group’s Oil & Gas supply operations are structured specifically to support drilling contractors, EPC companies, and procurement teams operating across African and GCC markets, with a sourcing and execution model built around what these markets actually require.
Working With ANZ Global Group
ANZ Global Group LLC FZ is a Dubai-based industrial sourcing and supply company serving oil and gas, drilling, infrastructure, and advanced materials sectors across GCC, Africa, CIS, and international markets.
Email: info@anzglobalgroup.com UAE: +971 50794 4739 India: +91 86799 58783 USA: +1-301-915-0995 Website: www.anzglobalgroup.com
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