US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has renewed pressure on the World Bank Group to finance upstream oil and gas projects. His 14 October statement calls for the institution to remove its restriction on financing petroleum exploration and production. The proposal has not changed World Bank policy or funded an African project. It also confronts a disagreement that the Bank's board failed to resolve in June 2025.

The board then agreed to lift the Bank's restriction on nuclear-energy financing but could not agree on expanding support for upstream natural gas. Germany, France and Britain were among shareholders that did not fully support the change. Bessent's new request reaches beyond that debate to include oil. The US holds approximately 16% of voting power in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), making it the largest shareholder but unable to change policy alone.

Angola is addressing a separate obstacle. Its National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG), the petroleum concession authority, proposes making more than 100 exploration blocks available and reducing concession-award times from approximately six months to three. The initiative would expand arrangements for continuous licensing. Angola already established a permanent-offer system under Presidential Decree No. 249/21 in 2021. The proposed strategy remains subject to government approval.

These developments concern access to capital and petroleum rights, but neither guarantees a commercial discovery. More acreage can enter the market without attracting drilling commitments. World Bank eligibility could change without producing a financeable petroleum development.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has meanwhile signed €99.1 million in financing for Mota-Engil Africa, the mining-services contractor working at three West African gold mines. The Portuguese group also participates in the Lobito Atlantic Railway consortium, which connects Angola's Atlantic coast with transport networks serving the Democratic Republic of Congo's Copperbelt. Its financing and investments span extraction services and transport infrastructure, although the new EBRD loan is not financing Lobito.

In Morocco, state-controlled phosphate producer OCP Group intends to acquire full ownership of EMAPHOS, a purified phosphoric acid producer at Jorf Lasfar. OCP's announcement envisages acquiring both joint-venture partners' interests. An Austrian merger filing describes an intermediate position in which OCP would own two-thirds directly but continue sharing control with Belgian chemicals company Prayon.

The four stories concern different forms of access: eligibility for multilateral funding, petroleum concessions, contractor capital and industrial ownership. Each confers potential economic advantages, but the enforceable rights, operating obligations and financial returns are determined by subsequent decisions and contracts.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on the World Bank Group on 14 October to formally retire its restriction on financing upstream oil and gas projects, including petroleum exploration and production.

The proposal renews an unresolved dispute within the institution. It is not an adopted World Bank policy change or an indication that financing has been approved for African upstream developments.

In December 2017, the World Bank Group announced that it would stop financing new upstream oil and gas projects after 2019. It preserved exceptional consideration for upstream natural gas in the poorest countries where energy access and national climate commitments justified support.

Eligible midstream and downstream gas investments remained possible.

The distinction was tested again in June 2025.

The World Bank's board agreed to lift its longstanding restriction on nuclear-energy financing. President Ajay Banga subsequently informed staff that directors had not reached agreement on whether the Bank should engage in upstream natural gas financing or the circumstances under which it could do so.

Reuters reported that Germany, France and Britain were among shareholders unwilling to fully support the proposed change.

Bessent is now asking the Bank to go further. His October statement expressly covers both gas and oil, whereas the publicly reported June 2025 disagreement centred on upstream gas.

The United States is the Bank's largest shareholder. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's voting-power table, dated 30 June 2026, records its share at 15.98%. That gives Washington considerable influence but not unilateral authority to approve a policy change.

The Bank has nevertheless continued financing eligible gas infrastructure.

In June 2026, it approved US$140 million for a regional gas initiative covering Benin (US$45 million), Côte d'Ivoire (US$55 million) and Togo (US$40 million). The allocations reconcile to the total. The project supports gas supply arrangements and preparation of midstream and downstream investments, not petroleum exploration wells.

The immediate obstacle is institutional disagreement over what development finance should support, not the absence of another policy proposal.

Bessent connects upstream energy financing to the World Bank and African Development Bank's Mission 300 objective of extending electricity access to 300 million additional Africans by 2030. That connection requires examination at project level.

An export-oriented oil field can generate government revenue and foreign exchange without directly expanding electricity access. Domestic gas production can support power generation, but only where pipelines, electricity infrastructure and commercially credible buyers exist.

Petroleum investments also involve distinct stages. Exploration establishes whether a commercially recoverable accumulation exists. Development converts discoveries into producing assets. Midstream infrastructure transports hydrocarbons, while downstream facilities process or consume them.

A lender may finance a gas pipeline or power station while declining to finance the wells supplying it. Reopening upstream eligibility could change that distinction, but eligibility would remain separate from project approval.

For African petroleum producers, expanded multilateral participation could improve risk allocation, particularly for discovered gas fields requiring substantial development capital. It could also encourage commercial lenders that value development-finance due diligence and guarantees.

The Bank would still need to assess reserves, projected production, petroleum rights, environmental obligations, fiscal arrangements and debt repayment.

The European shareholder positions create an identifiable political test. Any agreement must reconcile competing views on energy access, climate commitments and development-finance priorities.

The next consequential event is a formal World Bank decision defining which upstream investments its institutions may consider, under what conditions and through which financing instruments.

US Treasury, 14 October statement | Reuters, June 2025 World Bank board debate | World Bank, upstream financing policy | World Bank, IBRD voting-power table, 30 June 2026.

Angola's National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) intends to make more than 100 petroleum exploration blocks available and reduce concession-award times from approximately six months to three.

ANPG official Alcides Andrade told Reuters on 15 October that the changes form part of a proposed 25-year strategy intended for implementation from 2027, subject to government approval.

Most of the proposed acreage is onshore.

Continuous licensing is not new to Angola.

Presidential Decree No. 249/21 of 5 October 2021 already established the Regime de Oferta Permanente, allowing qualifying acreage to be offered outside scheduled licensing rounds.

The instrument covers previously offered but unawarded blocks, relinquished areas and certain concessions held by the national concessionaire. It provides for public tenders, limited tenders and direct negotiation under specified procedures.

The proposed novelty therefore lies primarily in the scale of available acreage, shorter award periods and possible changes in commercial terms, rather than the introduction of continuous licensing itself.

ANPG also proposes differentiating terms between onshore, deepwater, mature-field and marginal opportunities.

Angola produces approximately one million barrels of oil daily. Maintaining output requires new discoveries and investment in existing fields.

Expanding available acreage could improve exploration opportunities, but the existing 2021 framework establishes that administrative flexibility alone is insufficient to secure investment.

The effectiveness of the proposed changes depends on geological information, published award criteria, predictable fiscal terms and timely approvals.

Differentiating terms by risk profile could improve the economics of marginal developments without offering identical concessions to projects with substantially different costs.

Existing investment demonstrates the difference between attracting interest and securing commitments. Azule Energy, the BP-Eni venture, and partners approved the approximately US$5.1 billion Greater PAJ offshore development in June. It is an investment under existing arrangements, not an outcome of the proposed strategy.

ANPG must demonstrate what the revised framework changes beyond its existing permanent-offer mechanism.

Reuters, 15 October Angola licensing proposals | Presidential Decree No. 249/21, permanent-offer regime | ANPG, permanent-offer licensing explanation.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has announced €99.1 million in financing for Mota-Engil Africa, the mining-services subsidiary of Portugal's listed engineering group.

The financing supports equipment, working capital and refinancing at Lafigué and Séguéla gold mines in Côte d'Ivoire and Boto in Senegal.

The bank's project record confirms a signed corporate loan within a wider facility of approximately €162 million, guaranteed by Mota-Engil's listed parent.

Lafigué is operated by Endeavour Mining, Séguéla by Fortuna Mining, and Boto by Morocco's Managem Group.

Mota-Engil provides drilling, blasting, excavation and haulage services. It is not the owner of the mineral licences.

The EBRD facility also covers approximately €63 million associated with railway equipment in Nigeria. The reported €99.1 million mining component and approximately €63 million railway component total €162.1 million, reflecting the rounding of the wider facility.

This is an early mining-related investment within the EBRD's new sub-Saharan African operating footprint. Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal became EBRD countries of operation in 2025.

Mota-Engil's wider position extends beyond individual mines.

The group holds 49.5% of the Lobito Atlantic Railway consortium, alongside commodity trader Trafigura's 49.5% and railway operator Vecturis's 1%.

The consortium holds the 30-year railway-services concession for the Angolan section of the Lobito Corridor, which connects the Atlantic coast with transport networks serving the DRC Copperbelt.

Mota-Engil participates in two commercially connected parts of African mineral production: extracting material through contract-mining operations and providing infrastructure through which mineral commodities can reach markets.

Its West African mining-services financing and Lobito railway investment are separate transactions. The EBRD facility's railway component concerns Nigeria, not Lobito.

The connection is therefore corporate capability and exposure across the value chain, not a single integrated financing package.

For mine owners, contractor financing can improve equipment availability without requiring direct ownership of every mining asset. The contractor, supported by its parent guarantee, carries the associated borrowing obligations.

For Mota-Engil, participation across mining and transport diversifies commercial opportunities but introduces different project risks, contractual commitments and capital requirements.

The value of the EBRD financing will be established through equipment utilisation, contractor margins and repayment performance.

EBRD, €99.1 million mining-services financing | EBRD, Mota-Engil financing structure | EBRD, 2025 expansion into sub-Saharan Africa | Trafigura, Lobito consortium ownership.

Morocco's OCP Group, the state-controlled phosphate producer and fertiliser manufacturer, announced on 14 October that it intends to acquire full ownership of EMAPHOS, a purified phosphoric acid producer at Jorf Lasfar, by purchasing the remaining interests held by Belgian chemicals producer Prayon and Germany's Chemische Fabrik Budenheim.

The transaction is proposed for completion in early 2027, subject to approvals. Its price has not been disclosed.

EMAPHOS was established in 1996 as a joint venture between OCP, Prayon and Budenheim, with each holding approximately one-third.

Its annual production capacity increased from 140,000 tonnes to approximately 300,000 tonnes of purified phosphoric acid in 2023. These figures describe installed capacity, not verified production or sales.

OCP also owns 50% of Prayon. This gives it an estimated 50% look-through economic interest in EMAPHOS under the original ownership structure, comprising its direct one-third shareholding and an indirect interest equivalent to one-sixth through Prayon.

Acquiring Budenheim's one-third stake, as described in the Austrian competition filing, would increase OCP's approximate economic interest to 83.3%. That would comprise two-thirds direct ownership and its continuing indirect interest through Prayon.

Yet the filing states that OCP and Prayon would continue exercising joint control. OCP could therefore hold approximately 83.3% of the underlying economic interest without independently controlling the company.

OCP's subsequent announcement envisages acquiring both partners' remaining shares, bringing its direct ownership to 100% if completed.

These percentages describe simplified economic look-through interests, not voting rights or consolidated accounting interests. The available documents do not establish whether the announced acquisition will proceed through successive transactions or a revised structure.

The intermediate arrangement exposes an important distinction between economic ownership and corporate control.

An investor can hold most of a company's economic value while remaining subject to another shareholder's approval over major investments, borrowing, budgets and commercial decisions.

For OCP, full ownership could provide greater authority over EMAPHOS's production strategy, capital allocation and integration with its wider phosphate operations.

OCP also expects Prayon and Budenheim to remain commercial partners after the transaction. Those relationships may preserve access to customers and technical capabilities without continuing equity ownership.

However, the acquisition remains incomplete, and its financial value cannot be established without the transaction price, financing arrangements and continuing commercial commitments.

The final agreements must clarify whether the acquisition proceeds in stages, when Prayon's joint-control rights terminate and what commercial arrangements survive the ownership change.

OCP Group, proposed EMAPHOS acquisition | Austrian Federal Competition Authority, merger notification | Prayon news release, including shareholder description.

This maps the investable landscape and is not investment advice. No unverified daily prices are included.

Chevron | NYSE: CVX
Direct producing exposure. Operates offshore Block 0 and holds major Angolan petroleum interests.

ExxonMobil | NYSE: XOM
Direct producing exposure. Operates Block 15 and participates in other Angolan deepwater assets.

TotalEnergies | Euronext Paris: TTE / NYSE: TTE
Direct producing and exploration exposure. Watch licensing changes and investment commitments.

Eni | Euronext Milan: ENI / NYSE: E
Direct exposure through Azule Energy, its Angolan venture with BP.

BP | LSE: BP. / NYSE: BP
Direct exposure through Azule Energy; monitor sanctioned offshore developments.

Afentra | AIM: AET
Direct producing exposure to mature Angolan fields and their redevelopment economics.

Mota-Engil | Euronext Lisbon: EGL
Direct contractor and infrastructure exposure through African mining services and Lobito Atlantic Railway.

Endeavour Mining | LSE: EDV / TSX: EDV
Producing exposure at Lafigué in Côte d'Ivoire.

Fortuna Mining | NYSE: FSM / TSX: FVI
Producing exposure at Séguéla, where contractor capacity supports mine operations.

Managem | Casablanca Stock Exchange: MNG
Producing exposure at Boto in Senegal.

OCP is state-controlled and has no publicly traded ordinary equity. Its outstanding debt securities do not provide EMAPHOS ownership.

Mosaic Company | NYSE: MOS
Phosphate-market comparator without participation in the proposed EMAPHOS acquisition.