… as Ankara Deepens Africa Energy Engagement
A high-level Turkish delegation is confirmed to attend African Energy Week (AEW) 2025: Invest in African Energies, taking place in Cape Town from September 29 to October 3. Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Ahmet Berat Çonkar, will deliver remarks during the event, underscoring Ankara’s growing involvement in Africa’s energy sector, where recent deals and expanding commercial activity are reshaping partnerships and creating new investment opportunities.
Over the past two years, Ankara has made bold moves to secure a lasting foothold in Africa’s hydrocarbon sector. In April 2025, Turkey signed a landmark agreement with Somalia for onshore oil and gas exploration, granting the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) rights over three blocks spanning 16,000 km². The deal includes seismic studies and drilling, and provides Turkey with significant cost recovery rights and low royalty obligations, highlighting both Ankara’s readiness to assume frontier risk and Mogadishu’s need for reliable partners. Turkey has also signaled plans to deepen cooperation in Somalia’s mining sector, positioning itself to tap into Africa’s vast reserves of critical minerals essential to the global energy transition.
Meanwhile, Turkey is ramping up its energy push in Libya. In June 2025, TPAO and Libya’s National Oil Corporation signed an MOU to explore offshore maritime areas south of the median line between Greece and Libya – mapping four separate offshore zones slated for geological and geophysical studies. Those studies are expected to produce approximately 10,000 km of seismic data, which will be processed over a period of nine months.
Turkey is also strengthening ties in the West and Southern Africa. In late 2024, the country signed an MOU with Senegal to expand cooperation in oil, gas, and critical minerals, setting the stage for joint seismic work and future development. ALP24, a private Turkish firm, has recently launched energy and mining ventures in Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia, ranging from oil and gas exploration to projects involving diamonds, coal, copper, and cobalt – minerals central to Africa’s electrification and energy transition.
Deputy Minister Çonkar is expected to outline how Ankara plans to expand on these initiatives and advance its strategy across the continent, which combines state-backed diplomacy with commercial risk-taking and infrastructure development. At a time when global powers from China to Russia are competing for influence, Turkey is positioning itself as a pragmatic partner willing to enter new markets and take on projects where others hesitate. For African nations, Turkish capital and expertise present the promise of investment and development, as well as the need to ensure that terms remain fair, transparent and beneficial to local communities.
“Turkey’s increasingly bold energy and mining moves in Africa are not just about securing resources – they represent a new model of partnership. With the Deputy Minister speaking at AEW 2025, there’s a chance to see more transparent, proactive collaboration that benefits both Turkish investors and African nations. The challenge will be aligning terms so that host countries get fair returns, local industries grow, and risk is shared,” states NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber.
