Without a substantial infusion of capital, even experienced African national oil companies (NOCs) will remain largely focused on overseeing licensing for exploration and production (E&P), and managing their domestic oil sectors. The more ambitious business of deep-water drilling, complex technical operations and cross-border expansion will remain in the hands of foreign players.

The correction in the global commodity cycle shouldn’t derail investors’ search for new exploration frontiers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), given the region’s high-quality mining and metal assets, and still-growing steel demand in China. In any case, efforts to boost local value-added processing should remain on track.