Turkey is growing its involvement in Africa’s energy sector, where recent deals and expanding commercial activity are reshaping partnerships and creating new opportunities for investment.

Over the past two years, Turkey has made moves to secure a lasting foothold in Africa’s hydrocarbon sector.

In April 2025, Turkey signed an agreement with Somalia for onshore oil and gas exploration, granting the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) rights over three blocks over 16,000 sq km.

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 signalled 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 a 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 some 10,000 km of seismic data, which will be processed over nine months.

Turkey is also strengthening ties in West and Southern Africa.

In late 2024, the country signed a 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, 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.