The deal provides the Atlantic Margins explorer’s partner with one of the Orange Basin’s largest exploration blocks. The frontier region has drawn major industry players including Shell, TotalEnergies, bp, and Galp since play-opening discoveries offshore Namibia started transforming the area’s upstream landscape in 2022.

The African Energy Chamber (AEC) welcomes the completion of Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas’ farm-down in Block 1 CBK. As the voice of the African energy sector, the Chamber views the transaction as an important step in advancing exploration and unlocking the country’s significant offshore oil and gas potential.

Completed on September 22 following South African regulatory approvals, the transaction transfers operatorship of the 19,929-km² block to Navitas. Eco retains a 37.5% interest, while local partner OrangeBasin Energies maintains 25%. Eco received $4 million in cash and will be carried by Navitas for up to $7.5 million of its share of the work program.

Block 1 CBK sits within the Orange Basin, one of Africa’s most active frontier exploration areas, directly adjacent to Namibia and close to recent discoveries by Galp Energia, TotalEnergies, Rhino Resources and Shell. Three legacy wells have already confirmed a gas discovery with tested flow rates of 32.4 million standard cubic feet per day.

“South Africa has an opportunity to turn its offshore resource potential into investment, energy security, jobs and economic growth,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, AEC. “Partnerships that combine international capital and technical expertise with local participation can help move these resources toward development while creating wider opportunities across the African energy value chain.”

An August 2026 review by Eco and Navitas estimated more than 3.6 billion barrels of unrisked prospective oil resources and approximately 4.5 trillion cubic feet of prospective gas resources on Block 1 CBK. The partners are continuing advanced interpretation and reprocessing of existing seismic data to identify prospects and potential drilling targets, with the farm-down carrying Eco’s share of a work program that includes two planned exploration wells.

The transaction also demonstrates how farm-downs can distribute exploration risk while preserving exposure to high-impact African resources. Navitas assumes operational responsibility and expenditure commitments, while Eco retains substantial upside. If the existing option with OrangeBasin Energies is exercised in full and Navitas acquires half of the additional interest, Eco and Navitas would each hold 47.5% with OrangeBasin Energies retaining 5%.

For South Africa, successful exploration could support domestic oil and gas supply, attract international investment and generate demand for local services, technology and expertise. The project also forms part of a broader Orange Basin exploration story spanning South Africa and Namibia, reinforcing the region’s growing importance within Africa’s upstream landscape.

The AEC supports continued collaboration between government, international operators, African companies and financial and technical partners to advance Block 1 CBK. As Navitas assumes operatorship, the project provides an opportunity to convert substantial geological potential into exploration activity, investment and, ultimately, energy and economic value for South Africa and the continent.

Her appearance comes as Kinshasa moves to strengthen some of the infrastructure needed to support a more active petroleum sector. In July, the country launched its first national petroleum and gas data bank, inaugurated by Bandubola in Kinshasa. The platform is intended to centralize and improve access to geological and petroleum information, providing a more structured basis for exploration and investment.

Exploration is also moving up the government’s agenda. On September 15, Bandubola chaired discussions on accelerating the development of oil blocks 1 and 2 in the Albertine Graben, an area in eastern DRC where the government has been seeking to advance petroleum activity. The latest discussions underscore Kinshasa’s focus on moving prospective acreage toward development rather than leaving resources at the exploration stage.

At the same time, the DRC is looking beyond its borders for technical expertise. In May, Bandubola signed an agreement with Algeria’s energy minister covering cooperation in hydrocarbon exploration and production, as well as technical expertise and petroleum data. The partnership reflects Kinshasa’s efforts to draw on experience from established African oil and gas producers as it builds out its own sector capabilities.

The government is also working on the downstream side of the industry. Earlier this year, the hydrocarbons ministry outlined projects aimed at improving fuel supply in three provinces, including additional storage and distribution infrastructure. Such investments form part of a broader effort to strengthen the systems needed to supply a country with significant distances between producing areas, population centers and markets.

Bandubola’s role also has a regional dimension. The DRC is taking on a leadership position within the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization in 2026, giving the Minister an additional platform to engage with other African oil and gas producers on investment, technical cooperation and the development of the continent’s petroleum resources.

For investors, the DRC’s challenge is increasingly about translating prospective resources into a functioning industry – supported by credible data, exploration activity, infrastructure and partnerships. AEW 2026 provides a platform for the government to outline how it intends to do that and where international capital and expertise could fit into the next stage of development.

“The DRC has an enormous opportunity to build a stronger domestic oil and gas industry, but realizing that potential requires more than resources underground. It requires credible data, infrastructure, technical expertise and investment partnerships that can turn geological potential into productive assets and economic opportunity,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. “Acacia Bandubola Mbongo’s participation comes at an important moment as the country works to put those building blocks in place and engage investors on the opportunities emerging across its hydrocarbons sector.”

At the center of that shift is the proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, which Dangote Industries plans to develop at a cost of around $15-16 billion. The company expects to break ground later this month and complete the project by 2030, with the facility intended to supply refined products to Kenya and neighboring East African markets.

The project would give Kenya a much larger role in regional fuel supply, but it also highlights the infrastructure and supply questions facing the country’s petroleum ambitions. Kenya does not yet have commercial crude production, meaning the proposed refinery will need to secure feedstock from domestic production as it develops or from producers elsewhere in the region and international markets. Reuters has reported that potential sources include South Sudan and Uganda, although infrastructure and geopolitical considerations complicate those options.

That makes Kenya’s upstream progress particularly relevant. In May, Wandayi said the country expected to begin commercial oil production in Turkana by the end of 2026, marking a significant step beyond the small-scale early oil program that has operated in the South Lokichar Basin.

The petroleum push is unfolding alongside an ambitious electricity strategy. Kenya recently raised its planned additional generation capacity from 1,500 MW to 5,500 MW, with the revised pipeline incorporating geothermal, hydropower and nuclear generation. The country already produces approximately 93% of its electricity from renewable sources, with geothermal playing a particularly important role.

The challenge now extends beyond adding generation. Kenya is also examining the cost and structure of its electricity market, including power-purchase agreements, transmission and distribution infrastructure. The government has been under pressure to address electricity costs even as it seeks to attract the investment needed for new capacity.

For Wandayi, whose portfolio encompasses both petroleum and the wider energy sector, those developments converge around a common question: how to turn major energy projects into infrastructure, investment and industrial growth.

“Kenya is entering an important period for its energy sector, with opportunities emerging across the petroleum value chain as well as geothermal, renewables and power infrastructure,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. “The proposed Lamu refinery, the development of Kenya’s oil resources and the country’s expanding power ambitions demonstrate the breadth of investment opportunities available. What matters now is creating the conditions for capital and technical expertise to move these projects from ambition into execution.”

Wandayi’s participation at AEW 2026 will put that broader agenda before investors, developers, financiers and energy companies from across Africa and beyond. His portfolio places him at the intersection of Kenya’s efforts to develop domestic petroleum resources, build new downstream infrastructure and expand a power system increasingly dominated by renewable generation.

AEW 2026 takes place in Cape Town from October 12-16, bringing together African governments, energy companies, investors and financiers for discussions spanning oil and gas, power, renewables, infrastructure, critical minerals and energy finance.