Volz returns to AEW as Washington’s engagement with African energy markets increasingly spans both hydrocarbons and electricity infrastructure. In April, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency brought energy decision-makers from the DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda to the U.S. to meet American companies working on transmission and distribution technologies, including AI-enabled grid systems. The program was designed to connect U.S. technology providers with prospective projects and procurement opportunities in African power markets.

Mozambique illustrates the scale that U.S. financing can bring to an African gas project. In March 2025, the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved a nearly $5 billion loan for TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG development, reviving a financing package for the long-delayed project. The original $4.7 billion commitment had been approved during the first Trump administration but required reapproval after construction was suspended in 2021. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil and its Area 4 partners awarded approximately $1.1 billion in pre-investment contracts for long-lead equipment and early construction activities at the Rovuma LNG project in August.

Development finance is another part of the equation. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s investment ceiling rose from $60 billion to $205 billion following its 2025 reauthorization, while the agency gained expanded authority covering international investments in strategic sectors including energy and critical minerals. The new authorization runs through 2031.

The DFC has also continued to approve new transactions in Africa in 2026. On September 16, the agency announced more than $8 billion in new investments globally, including projects supporting infrastructure and resources across Africa, as part of an effort to promote U.S. exports, energy security and American technology.

U.S. companies such as GE Vernova are active across African power markets, providing generation, transmission, grid and software technologies. The company says its technology is installed in more than 50 countries across the Middle East and Africa; in Nigeria alone, its equipment is installed across more than 40 sites, while its grid technology has also supported regional integration through the West African Power Pool.

Energy access is another emerging strand of Washington’s engagement. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright co-chaired the July 2026 high-level summit on clean cooking in Africa alongside Kenyan President William Ruto, Norway and the International Energy Agency. The meeting produced $900 million in new commitments, taking total commitments since the 2024 Africa Clean Cooking Summit to more than $3.1 billion. Wright described clean cooking as a major but often overlooked energy-access challenge.

Volz has previously argued that African countries should determine their own energy pathways while the United States looks for ways to partner with them. Speaking at AEW 2025, he said: “International governments should not stand in the way of how African nations determine their energy futures. We are eager to hear how best we can, from a U.S. perspective, partner with Africa.” He also pointed to $65 billion in existing U.S. private-sector investment in Africa and a $2.5 billion U.S. government pledge to support energy expansion.

That approach will have a substantial U.S. presence at AEW 2026. The current program confirms Volz alongside U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, United States Energy Association President and CEO Mark W. Menezes and DFC Managing Director and Regional Head of Africa Vibhuti Jain, among other U.S.-linked executives and policymakers. Jain will also participate in the dedicated U.S.-Africa Energy & Investment Forum on October 14, which will bring together U.S. and African companies, investors and policymakers to discuss capital, technology and commercial partnerships.

“The DFC is better resourced than it has ever been, making this an opportune moment for African operators to make their case. This conference is about making sure the capital and the projects actually find each other,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.

For African energy markets, the expanding U.S. role reaches across project finance, LNG, upstream development, electricity infrastructure, grid technology and clean cooking. Volz’s participation at AEW 2026 comes as those relationships increasingly move from broad policy discussions toward individual projects, commercial partnerships and technology deployment across the continent.

The basin remains undrilled despite sharing geological characteristics with some of Africa’s largest and latest deepwater plays. As seismic, geochemical and seabed datasets converge, the question now is whether that technical progress will translate into a commercially viable petroleum province?

Frontier Basin Moves Toward Drill-Ready Status

The Harper Basin covers Blocks LB-26, LB-30 and LB-31 under Reconnaissance License RL-003, spanning approximately 8,924 km2 offshore Liberia. TotalEnergies operates the project with a 65% interest alongside BluEnergies, which retains 35%.

The partnership formalized in January 2026 through a joint study and application agreement after BluEnergies secured an early position in the basin during 2023 and advanced independent prospect evaluation.

An independent prospective resource assessment completed in March 2025 estimated unrisked prospective resources of approximately 17.9 billion barrels of oil and 28.8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas across seven mapped basin-floor fan systems.

Current work centers on reprocessing 6,167 km2 of legacy 3D seismic data using energy data and intelligence firm TGS. The program recently surpassed 50% completion, delivering improved subsurface imaging and enhanced amplitude versus offset analysis to identify potential hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs.

Parallel offshore operations began on June 19, 2026, with subsurface specialists GeoPartners deploying the research vessel R/V GYRE, operated by TDI-Brooks, to survey approximately 4,045  km2 in water depths between 500 and 3,500 meters.

The campaign combines multibeam echo sounder mapping, water-column imaging, piston coring and heat-flow measurements. These datasets identify seepage pathways, characterize source-rock maturity and improve confidence in future drilling locations before integration during Q4 2026.

Once economically viable anomalies are finalized, TotalEnergies and BluEnergies plan to exercise their rights to convert the reconnaissance license into long-term PSCs by late 2026 or in 2027. This step legally locks in the drilling rights, positioning the partners to advance toward exploration drilling, subject to prospect maturation, regulatory approvals and investment decisions

Geological Analogues Strengthen Exploration Case

Unlike Liberia’s historically explored offshore basin, the Harper Basin occupies a structurally confined transform-margin embayment bounded by major fracture zones that concentrate sediment delivery into thick basin-floor fan complexes.

These Cretaceous-aged Cenomanian and Turonian fan systems are considered direct geological analogues to producing and discovered deepwater plays along the West Africa Transform Margin.

BluEnergies has identified seven discrete basin-floor fan complexes interpreted from seismic data. The current technical program seeks to validate reservoir quality before progressing toward production sharing contracts and exploration drilling.

Vice President of Exploration Sergio Laura says recent licensing activity across the West African margin reinforces BluEnergies’ early entry into Harper Basin, explaining in a press release, “The Jubilee field in Ghana, the Venus field in Namibia and the recent discoveries offshore Ivory Coast have proven the significance of basin floor fan plays along the African margin.”

Unlike earlier Liberian exploration focused primarily on structural traps, the Harper Basin targets stratigraphic pinch-out reservoirs sealed beneath regional marine shales, reducing reliance on fault-dependent trapping mechanisms that limited historical exploration success.

If the current technical program confirms reservoir quality, Liberia could move from being one of West Africa’s least explored offshore jurisdictions to one of its most closely watched frontier plays. With TotalEnergies providing technical expertise and BluEnergies holding an early strategic position, the next milestone is no longer identifying prospects—but determining whether they justify Liberia’s first deepwater exploration wells.

The Harper Basin’s progress comes as Liberia seeks to attract new investment through its 2026 Offshore Direct Negotiation Licensing Round, highlighting the country’s broader offshore potential and growing exploration momentum.

The Launch of the Liberia 2026 Offshore Direct Negotiation Licensing Round – organized by Energy Capital and Power – will take place at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 on October 14 at The Orchid, CTICC 2. Visit, https://apo-opa.co/4rMJlS7 for more information.

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