A previous meeting between Chinese and Mozambican premiers Xi Jinping and Filipe Nyusi
China’s NOCs plan renewed African growth
The current wave of investment comes after Africa’s importance as an energy supplier to China has declined in recent years
China’s NOCs are continuing to expand their upstream footprint in Africa—underscored by CNOOC’s recent bagging of contracts to explore blocks offshore Mozambique—as Beijing looks to help shore up African production to lock in future supplies. African hydrocarbons have remained of key interest to PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC since they were tipped four years ago to become collectively the fourth-biggest upstream investor in Africa over 2019–23, behind BP, Shell and Eni. Africa stood to capture nearly 30% of overseas upstream capex by the NOCs, amounting to c.$15b, consultancy GlobalData predicted in mid-2019. It is unclear if the NOCs have lived up to the billing, but they have not shied awa
Also in this section
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
3 March 2026
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in US–Israeli strikes marks the most serious escalation in the region in decades and a bigger potential threat to the oil market than the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis
2 March 2026
A potential blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the escalating US-Iran conflict risks disrupting Qatari LNG exports that underpin global gas markets, exposing Asia and other markets to sharp price spikes, cargo shortages and renewed reliance on dirtier fuels
