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Apus Energy to Showcase Guinea-Bissau Operations as Silver Sponsor at AEW 2026
Independent upstream firm Apus Energy is confirmed to participate as a Silver Sponsor at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026, scheduled for October 12–16 in Cape Town. The company is expected to leverage the platform to advance farm-out discussions and showcase progress from its Guinea-Bissau deepwater campaign.
Taking place under the theme “Invest in African Energies: Affordable and Abundant Energy Additions,” AEW 2026 convenes upstream, midstream, downstream and energy transition stakeholders. As Africa’s premier energy event, the forum will place a strong focus on gas monetization, licensing rounds and cross-border infrastructure development across the continent’s evolving energy markets.
Apus Energy’s participation follows the completion of its first offshore drilling campaign in Guinea-Bissau, where it holds a 100% operating interest in the Sinapa and Esperança licenses. The acreage spans 4,962 km2 in the MSGBC Basin and was acquired from independent oil and gas exploration company Petronor E&P for up to $85 million. The portfolio includes Block 2 (Sinapa) and Blocks 4A and 5A (Esperança), targeting multiple shelf-edge structures with significant upside potential.
The company drilled the Atum-1X exploration well in 2024, marking Guinea-Bissau’s first offshore well in nearly two decades and a critical proof point for the country’s upstream sector. Targeting Albian-aged reservoirs in water depths between 200m and 900m, the well was executed using the Ocean BlackRhino, a seventh-generation ultra-deep drillship operated by Noble Corporation and managed by AGR. The campaign required full-cycle logistical planning due to the absence of established offshore supply chains in the country.
Atum and the adjacent Anchova prospect together hold an estimated 467 million barrels of unrisked prospective resources, including approximately 314 million barrels attributed to Atum and around 153 million barrels at Anchova. The Atum structure is considered a geological analogue to Senegal’s Sangomar field, reinforcing its strategic significance within the basin. Despite completing drilling in October 2024, Apus has maintained strict confidentiality over well results, classifying the project as a tight hole while ongoing data evaluation and reservoir modeling continue to refine resource estimates.
At AEW 2026, Apus is expected to engage international oil companies and financial partners as it advances formal farm-out processes aimed at distributing capital risk and funding for the next appraisal phase. The company is targeting a potential follow-on drilling campaign in 2027, subject to partner alignment and data de-risking outcomes. Its strategy is supported by growing regional momentum, including new seismic campaigns, regulatory alignment and recent market entries that continue to position Guinea-Bissau as an emerging frontier within the MSGBC Basin.
“Our continued engagement with companies like Apus Energy at AEW 2026 underscores the growing momentum behind Africa’s frontier exploration markets. Their progress in Guinea-Bissau highlights how technical expertise and strategic capital can unlock new basins and reshape regional energy dynamics. AEW remains the platform where these partnerships are forged, enabling projects of this scale to move from exploration toward development,” says NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber.