West Africa Cretaceous plays, a game changer

West Africa exploration is a dynamic mix of mature basins and emerging frontier areas. The region can be segmented into three key areas: 

• The MSGBC Basin, encompassing Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea-Conakry

• The West Africa Transform Margin (WATM), including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin

• The rest of West Africa, which represents a compelling blend of mature production hubs and underexplored frontiers

While countries like Namibia and São Tomé & Príncipe are frontier zones, countries like Angola, Congo, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon host long-established basins with significant infrastructure. Yet, these proven and mature areas hold untapped, deeper potential.

Read on as we explore how West Africa exploration has strategically shifted toward Cretaceous plays, and fill out the form at the top of the page to download an extract from our "Transforming Exploration: West Africa's Cretaceous Plays" report. 

A shift in strategy: from Tertiary to Cretaceous plays

Cretaceous targets in West Africa have dominated since 2011. 

While the first wave of deepwater exploration successes centred on large Tertiary deltaic plays, exploration strategies have recently shifted towards Cretaceous plays. 

Older Cretaceous plays, including syn-rift and post-rift clastic and carbonate reservoirs are actively targeted in both frontier and mature basins. These Cretaceous reservoirs are often associated with older source rock intervals, notably Aptian-Albian marine organic-rich shales, and even older lacustrine source rocks. 

A series of game-changing Cretaceous discoveries on both sides of the Atlantic have certainly driven the shift. Equally transformative, however, are advances in seismic imaging technologies and deepwater drilling. These have enabled explorers to visualise complex subsurface targets and reach areas once considered inaccessible.  

 A story of breakthrough Cretaceous discoveries 

From the pre-salt Tupi discovery in Brazil  in 2006, through to the recent Calao discovery in Cote d’Ivoire in 2024, nine play openers have transformed West Africa’s high-impact exploration strategy. They have challenged conventional concepts and fuelled new geological models, extending the exploration fairways far beyond their traditional limits.  

Mapping the impact of these deepwater discoveries 

These key Cretaceous discoveries have set off waves of drilling campaigns, sparking a Cretaceous exploration boom.  

Tupi discovery, in 2006, triggered a pre-salt race, with exploration wells targeting the pre-salt carbonate play in Angola and pre-salt clastic play in Gabon. 

Jubilee discovery, in 2007, sparked an exploration campaign along the Transform Margin, as operators pursued Cretaceous deepwater turbidite analogues. 

Sangomar discovery, in 2014, accelerated momentum in the MSGBC basin, intensifying interest in its underexplored frontier. 

Barra (2010), Liza (2015), Graff (2022), and Venus (2022), accelerated the hunt for Cretaceous deepwater turbidite resources, extending exploration efforts across the entire margin. 

Baleine discovery (2021) proved that bold geological thinking can succeed where others have failed. And Calao (2024) reignited momentum in the search for Jubilee analogues along the WATM. 

A 10-year technical exploration success rate of over 50% 

West Africa high impact Cretaceous wells achieved more than 50% technical success rates over the last decade. This is significantly higher than global averages, reflecting the geological uniqueness of the region. 

The scale of the opportunity is significant. A total of 13 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) has been discovered. 7 billion barrels are commercial or already on production and delivering an average post-tax value of US$4/boe. 

However, over 60% of the discoveries are not commercially viable. Commercialisation stalled due to insufficient hydrocarbon volumes, reservoir quality and gas challenges.  

Download an extract from the report 

To learn more about West Africa’s exploration, fill out the form at the top of the page to download an extract from the report. 

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