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.

Backed by API Events’ decades of B2B real estate, capital and hospitality events experience and headline-sponsored by Cushman & Wakefield | Broll, the event takes place at the InterContinental Resort Mauritius on 8 October. Now in its fourth edition, the event has been rebuilt around the transition from high-churn sales to institutional-grade investment, with a programme spanning regulatory changes, private credit, capital structuring and the integration of Agentic AI into dealmaking.

A maturing hospitality investment market

“The Indian Ocean is home to some of the most iconic destinations globally and the hospitality sector’s relative maturity is evidence of this, while the region still presents numerous entry opportunities for those not present,” says Wayne Godwin, Group Managing Director: International Markets, Broll Property Group.

Spearheaded by investment, real estate and hospitality leaders, the Indian Ocean Showcase programme will explore how capital is deploying across a corridor extending from Mauritius to the Maldives, Seychelles, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Réunion and Mozambique.

From growth potential to investable opportunity

The summit will also explore the growing prominence of GCC family offices and sovereign wealth funds in resort investment, alongside the shift from passive fund allocations into direct deals in hospitality, branded residences and mixed-use property.

“For investors, the opportunity across this market is not simply about identifying where growth is happening, but understanding where the fundamentals are strong enough to support investable real estate. Connectivity, infrastructure, demand and the ability to execute will increasingly determine which opportunities translate into successful transactions,” says Calvin Crick, Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield | Broll Transactions.

Emphasis will be placed on capital-light development models and the use of branded residences to compress developer entry requirements, evidenced by a wave of branded openings from global and independent hotel groups. The investment case is further underpinned by tourism demand, with Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zanzibar all posting record visitor arrivals in 2025.

Understanding distinct markets and occupier needs

While hospitality remains a key component of the region’s investment story, the opportunity extends across a broader real estate landscape.

“The Indian Ocean should not be viewed as a single real estate market. Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles and Réunion each have distinct economic, regulatory and occupier dynamics, creating different opportunities for businesses looking to establish or expand their presence in the region. For occupiers, understanding these local market conditions will be critical to making informed real estate decisions,” says Natasha Bruwer, Managing Director: Occupier Services, Cushman & Wakefield | Broll.

The broader agenda will examine the growth drivers shaping the region, alongside lessons learnt from mature markets and against the backdrop of new flagship projects. It will also explore emerging investment themes, including the Mauritius Real Estate Index, green bond structuring against DFI and institutional ESG bankability requirements, and emerging asset classes such as senior living, digital-nomad multi-stay models, resort logistics and asset tokenisation.

A dedicated design and development track will examine how two decades of master-planning quality have shaped long-term investor confidence in the market.

Beyond hospitality

“Beyond hospitality, the combination of high ease of doing business, economic maturity, and growth makes this an attractive region for commercial, industrial, retail, residential, and other real estate asset classes. As Cushman & Wakefield | Broll, we are delighted to support this event and are pleased to have this exciting partnership in place,” says Godwin.

“We’re excited to continue our legacy in the Indian Oceans region with this repositioned event, designed to answer questions of capital structure, regulatory positioning and long-term institutional confidence across the entire corridor,” says API Events Commercial Director, Murray Anderson.

“The decision to move from a traditional property forum to a capital, investment and hospitality-focused summit reflects the rapidly changing geopolitical environment, surging tourism demand and the maturation of Indian Ocean island economies.”

Event snapshot:

8 October, InterContinental Mauritius Resort

300+ global attendees (investors, operators, developers and financiers).

60+ speakers across 14 sessions

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.”