Energy and mining cooperation

Russia has a sizeable presence in the African mining and energy market. Russian mining concessions are concentrated in countries characterised by poor governance, such as the Central African Republic, Guinea, Madagascar, Mozambique and Sudan, which allows the line between official concessions and unofficial concessions to be blurred. This ambiguity is further exploited through the involvement of companies associated with Wagner.
In contrast to the mining sector, Russian involvement in oil and gas projects is more geographically diversified. However, it is worth noting that Russian companies are not official partners in any of the major African oil and gas projects. Indeed, Russia contributes to less than 1 % of foreign direct investment in the continent.
Russia has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with 20 countries. Amongst them, Egypt and Nigeria have signed preliminary plans to build nuclear plants. If these plans come to fruition, Egypt and Nigeria would join South Africa, which already has an operational nuclear power plant, in the ranks of African countries with nuclear energy capabilities supported by Russian technology.