Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 12 March 2026 Senegal's Primature held a press conference releasing mid-term findings of the National Commission for the Re-evaluation and Renegotiation of Petroleum, Gas, and Mining Contracts, created in August 2024 under Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko's reform programme. The Commission identified a 1,075.9 billion FCFA shortfall in the mining sector — concentrated in unpaid taxes/royalties and unauthorised tax exemptions at ICS (Industries Chimiques du Sénégal) — and announced the termination of four offshore oil-exploration blocks (Djifer Offshore, Kayar Offshore, Saint-Louis Offshore, Rufisque Offshore). Renegotiation of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) gas project, operated by BP with Kosmos Energy and Woodside as partners on the Senegal-Mauritania maritime border, is under active examination; the Primature projects 900 bn FCFA in incremental fiscal revenue 2026-2040 from the contract revision programme. This is Senegal's first major instance of retroactive resource-contract review under the Sonko-Faye government and establishes the legal-political baseline for subsequent contract renegotiations across the 27 mining contracts and remaining hydrocarbon licences under Commission review.

On 10 February 2026 in Baku, US Vice President JD Vance and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a Charter on Strategic Partnership — a foundational bilateral instrument covering five cooperation tracks: economy and trade, energy, connectivity and digital development (including AI), security and defense, and critical-minerals transit. The Charter commits both governments to facilitate the transit of critical minerals via the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor to global markets, and formally recognises the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) as the multi-modal connectivity link between mainland Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The instrument builds on the 8 August 2025 MoU signed in Washington during the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Summit that established the Strategic Working Group tasked with drafting the Charter, and marks the first US Vice-Presidential visit to Azerbaijan since Dick Cheney in 2008.

On October 22, 2025, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company ("Rosneft") and Lukoil OAO ("Lukoil") — together with dozens of named Russia-based subsidiaries — to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List under Executive Order 14024 for "operating or having operated in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy." It is the first US designation of Russia's two largest integrated oil majors since the 2022 invasion-era sanctions architecture began. Under OFAC's 50% Rule, the blocking extends automatically to all entities owned 50% or more, directly or indirectly, by Rosneft or Lukoil — capturing a sprawling global subsidiary network including Lukoil retail/refining assets in Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Finland, the West Qurna-2 upstream stake in Iraq, and Lukoil Americas. Rosneft and Lukoil together account for roughly half of Russian crude exports (~5 mb/d combined production) and Lukoil holds a ~9% European retail-fuel market share. OFAC simultaneously issued General License 124 (Caspian Pipeline Consortium / Tengizchevroil / Karachaganak Kazakhstan-pipeline carve-out, no expiry), General License 125 (Lukoil retail service stations outside Russia, wind-down to November 21, 2025), General License 126 (general wind-down to November 21, 2025) and General License 127 (debt/equity divestment and derivatives wind-down to November 21, 2025). GL 131 (issued November 14, 2025) opened a divestment window for Lukoil International GmbH; subsequent GL 134/134A/134B extended cargo-offload authorisations through April–May 2026. The action was coordinated same-day with UK OFSI Rosneft/Lukoil designations and the EU's 19th Russia sanctions package adopted October 23, 2025 — the first major US-led Russia-energy escalation under the second Trump administration.

Mozambique's Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) published a comprehensive revision of the 2014 Petroleum Law (Lei n.º 21/2014) in June 2025, tabled before the Assembleia da República for debate on 7 May 2026. The revision mandates a minimum 25% domestic-market quota for all oil, gas, and LNG produced under concessions (exclusively for national consumption), requires 100% of condensate output to be allocated domestically, and introduces idle-block penalty charges for concessionaires that fail to develop assigned blocks within prescribed periods. It also elevates the Instituto Nacional de Petróleo (INP) to full Regulatory Authority status with inspection and sanctioning powers, and establishes a mandatory minimum state Participating Interest with a free-carry obligation through to commercial production.

Mauritania enacted Loi n°2024-037 — the world's first standalone national Green Hydrogen Code — creating a dedicated legal and fiscal framework for the development, production, export and processing of green hydrogen and its derivatives (green ammonia, green methanol, green steel). The law establishes the Agence Mauritanienne pour l'Hydrogène Vert (AMHV) as regulator and one-stop-shop for project licences, grants comprehensive fiscal incentives including full VAT exemption on equipment imports and zero export tax on hydrogen exports, and provides a 30-year fiscal-stability undertaking to qualifying investors. The Code underpins a cumulative project pipeline estimated at USD 40 billion and positions Mauritania as the lead jurisdiction for the proposed Mauritania-EU green-hydrogen export corridor under the CBAM-compatible flag.

Oman published its national Green Hydrogen Strategy in May 2024 (with an updated December 2024 release), formalising statutory production targets of 1.0-1.5 Mtpa green hydrogen by 2030, 3.25-3.75 Mtpa by 2040, and 7.5-8.5 Mtpa by 2050. Implementation is centralised in Hydrom (Hydrogen Development Oman), the wholly state-owned subsidiary of Energy Development Oman established in 2022 as the singular allocation authority for green- hydrogen master-planning, land tendering and developer concessions. Approximately 50,000 km² of state land in Duqm, Dhofar and Al Jazir is earmarked under the regime, sufficient to host ~95-100 GW of electrolyser capacity and ~175-185 GW of renewable build-out by 2050. The strategy underpins the ~USD 11bn Round-2 Dhofar awards announced April 2024 and positions Oman as a structural offtake supplier to EU/JP/KR hydrogen importers under the EU Renewable Energy Directive III non-bio renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO) framework and the Japan Hydrogen Society Promotion Act CfD scheme.

OFAC issued a determination under Executive Order 14071 (Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions) effective December 5, 2022, establishing a $60/barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil. The measure prohibits US persons from providing six categories of covered services — trading/commodities brokering, financing, shipping, insurance (including reinsurance and P&I), flagging, and customs brokering — for the maritime transport of Russian crude oil unless the oil is purchased at or below $60/bbl. The determination was coordinated with the EU, G7 nations, and Australia as a unified coalition instrument designed to reduce Russian oil revenues while keeping global energy markets supplied. Three general licenses (GL 55, 56, 57) carved out limited exemptions for Japan's Sakhalin-2 imports, certain EU landlocked states, and vessel emergencies.

Azerbaijan's Milli Məclis adopted the Law on Investment Activity (Qanun No. 551-VIQ) on 22 June 2022, replacing the 1992 Law on Protection of Foreign Investments and consolidating the country's fragmented investor-rights framework into a single foundational statute. The Law establishes national-treatment and most-favoured-investor guarantees for all investors, restricts expropriation to public-purpose proceedings with full market-value compensation, and authorises profit and capital repatriation in convertible currency. It preserves the Investment Promotion Document (IPD) framework administered by the Ministry of Economy while updating the statutory authority for tax and customs incentive schedules, dispute-resolution pathways, and prohibited-sector definitions.

On 1 March 2022, OFAC published an interim final rule adding the Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations (RuHSR) at 31 CFR Part 587, codifying into Title 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations all prohibitions previously imposed by Executive Order 14024 of 15 April 2021. The regulations were issued in abbreviated form to provide immediate public guidance, with OFAC indicating an intent to supplement them with additional definitions, general licenses, and interpretive guidance. All transactions prohibited under EO 14024 — including prior sectoral determinations and directives targeting Russia's financial services sector, sovereign debt markets, and key state institutions — are formally prohibited under Part 587, giving domestic courts and compliance teams a stable regulatory anchor.

Angola's President João Lourenço signed Decreto Presidencial n.º 271/20 on 20 October 2020, replacing Order n.º 127/03 of 2003 and establishing the Regime Jurídico do Conteúdo Local do Sector dos Petróleos (RJCLSP). The decree divides petroleum-sector contracting into three regimes — exclusivity (reserved for Angolan nationals and companies), preference (Angolan-majority bidders take priority), and open competition with mandatory local-content scoring — covering all goods and services contracts entered into by concessionaires and their full subcontracting chains. The Ministério dos Recursos Minerais, Petróleo e Gás (MIREMPET) supervises compliance, with non-inclusion of mandatory local-content clauses penalised at USD 50,000–200,000 per infraction and escalating to contract cancellation for repeat offenders. The RJCLSP applies to all IOCs operating Angolan offshore blocks, including TotalEnergies (Block 17), ExxonMobil (Block 15), Chevron (Blocks 0, 14, 14K), BP (Block 31), Eni (Blocks 2, 14, 15/06), and Equinor, as well as their oilfield-services subcontractor chains.

Algeria's Law n° 19-13 of 11 December 2019, published in Journal Officiel N° 79 of 22 December 2019, replaces the 2005 hydrocarbons law (Loi n° 05-08) and restructures the entire upstream oil and gas legal-fiscal framework. The law reintroduces Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) and Risk Service Contracts (RSC) alongside the legacy royalty-and-tax Participation Contract model that the 2005 statute had offered as the sole contractual form, and establishes a new three-way institutional architecture separating the Ministry of Energy (policy), Autorité de Régulation des Hydrocarbures (ARH, upstream regulator), and Agence Nationale pour la Valorisation des Ressources en Hydrocarbures (ALNAFT, licensing authority) from Sonatrach's operational NOC role. Sonatrach retains a statutory minimum-participation right and pre-emption privilege across all upstream contracts, while fiscal terms are restructured with basin-maturity and project-economics calibration to attract international investment after the 2014 oil-price collapse froze new entrants.

Senegal's National Assembly adopted Loi n° 2019-04 on 24 January 2019 and President Macky Sall promulgated it on 1 February 2019, establishing the foundational legal framework for maximising Senegalese participation across the entire hydrocarbon value chain — from exploration through decommissioning. The law creates three activity-classification regimes (exclusif, mixte, non-exclusif), mandates priority employment of Senegalese workers, and creates two implementing bodies: the Comité National de Suivi du Contenu Local (CNSCL, via Décret 2020-2046) and the Fonds d'appui au développement du contenu local (FADCL, via Décret 2020-2048). It underpins all petroleum contracts under which Petrosen, Woodside (Sangomar, first oil June 2024), bp/Kosmos (GTA Tortue Ahmeyim, first gas December 2024), and future Yakaar-Teranga development licenses operate.