The African Energy Bank (AEB) is being positioned to raise about $15 billion to finance oil and gas projects in the continent of Africa by the year 2030, and expected to create over 500,000 direct jobs in the local midstream.
Secretary General of the Association of Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO), Farid Ghezali, disclosed this on Tuesday in his remarks at the official opening of the 2026 edition of the Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) at the State House, Abuja.
African Energy Bank is a joint initiative of APPO member states and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), established with an initial capital of $5billion.
Its core mandate is to mobilize domestic and regional capital for energy infrastructure, reduce Africa’s reliance on external financing, and align energy investments with the continent’s long-term development and industrialization goals.
Speaking, Ghezali said, “Our goal is to raise $15 billion in just three years with this increased liquidity. Competitive regional pricing. The African Energy Bank will unify intra-African pricing for gas and oil, allowing our member countries to achieve savings of up to 30% on their energy imports, a potential gain of $1.4 billion for Africa. Direct access to investors.”
He said for Africa, which is rich in energy resources, the challenge is not only to extract but to transform these resources into real share worth for the population.
Noting that despite the continent’s immense potential, Africa is facing a paradoxical and frustrating reality of exporting about 70% of its crude oil and 45% of natural gas, losing $15 billion yearly.
He noted that Financing remains the main bottleneck hindering the development of the continent’s strategic projects. Adding that more than 150 essential projects, from refineries to pipelines, such as the AKK pipeline, to gas infrastructure remains blocked.
“What for? Because the cost of financing in Africa is 15-20% compared to only 4-6% in Asia. This disparity is unacceptable and slows down our progress,” he added.
In addition, Ghezali said “the fragmentation of our energy financial ecosystem is a challenge. Our 18 national oil companies’ NFCs in APPO often operate in isolation, without a common stock exchange, which severely limits regional synergies and our collective ability to attract massive capital. Faced with this emergency, APPO has worked tirelessly to forge a resilient African and pragmatic solution, which is called the African Energy Bank.”
To address this anomaly, the APPO Secretary General said the African Energy Bank was designed to unlock the 200 billion needed for the continent’s midstream-downstream projects by 2030.
He disclosed that the African Energy Bank would allow the listing of shares of our national companies and flagship projects, such as the Dangote Refinery or the AKK Pipeline, for example.
Explaining that it would also connect Africa’s certified projects to the world’s largest sovereign wealth, such as IDAA and PIA, as well as to capital markets with structured equipment and public-private partnerships.
He informed that the roadmap for the African Energy Bank, is divided in three phases.
“Phase one, which, as I said in the first half of 2016, launches the African Energy Bank platform with 10-pillar projects involving countries such as Nigeria, Angola, Libya. APPO certification and integration of IOCs such as Shell or E&I.
“Phase two, in 2017, we plan to start a regional gas-oil trade, integrating the principles of the Basabi Declaration for 15% local content.
“Phase three, reaching 2030, the African Energy Bank will be a true African financial hub, with $200 billion mobilised to support the gas transition and energy transformation of our continent,” he said.
Ghezali emphasised that the quantified benefits of the Bank speak for themselves. “Project financing for billions of dollars, regional savings of around 30% of import costs, 500,000 direct jobs created in the local midstream, attractiveness for sovereign wealth and global investors,” he noted.
Earlier, in his remarks, the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), Adegbite Falade, noted that the shocks in one region ripple across continents, and Africa and Nigeria are not shielded from these pressures. Underscoring why the theme of this year’s Energy Summit, Energy for Peace and Prosperity, securing our shared future, is timely and appropriate.
“It challenges us to think beyond the present, and to confront the deeper question of how we build stability and prosperity through our God-given resources.
“It calls on us to look inward and shape our own path, to design an energy future that is rooted in economic growth and development. If we are to secure peace, if we are to deliver prosperity, then Africa and indeed Nigeria must take ownership of its energy destiny, and that journey must accelerate,” he added.
Falade, said that Nigeria must build an energy industry that could sustain itself, that could deliver free and lasting value to all Nigerians, and go through collaboration and consolidation rather than through fragmentation.
He noted that the future of the industry lies not in the whole model of extraction and exports of the nation’s raw hydrocarbons, but it lies in creating in-country value that fuels the economy and increasingly contributes to our GDP growth.
According to him, since the 2025 edition of the summit, Nigeria’s oil and gas industry has recorded very notable progresses across the entire value chain. Noting that across the upstream, we’ve scaled up in terms of our liquid production. Gas production has grown significantly.
“This growth in liquid has been supported by an increase in export pipeline availability, reduced crude losses, and stronger indigenous contribution to production.
“For the first time, indigenous producers and independents now account for more than 50 percent of national production. Under the watch of Mr. President, necessary approvals were granted to major upstream M&A activities, and this further increased local ownership and strengthened operational control among indigenous players.
“We’ve also seen notable progress in the mainstream sector. We’ve seen progresses be made in gas rights in the downstream sector. Under policy and regulatory funds, we continue to see significant reforms.
“We continue to see sustained implementation of the PIA and strengthening of sales through the issuance of relevant and appropriate executive orders. All this demonstrates Mr. President’s commitment to an industry that is strong, that is viral, and we continue to be in the backbone of our economic development, without which we cannot talk about peace, without which we cannot talk about prosperity.
“Collectively, these developments reflect meaningful progress in rebuilding confidence, boosting investment, and positioning the oil and gas sector for stronger growth.
“However, a few things still remain by way of all kinds of process stakeholders if we are to build an energy industry that is truly self-sufficient and that consistently creates value for the nation.,” he said.
Highlighting a few key important areas where Nigeria needs to sustain its focus and attention if the industry would deliver the much-needed peace and prosperity, the IPPG Chairman said “In no particular order, we must continue to create an industry that allows the driving and the envelope of private capital to build our industry infrastructure. Without this, we will not be able to reach the massive gap in potential that we have to meet in our contribution to the nation’s GDP.
“Number two, if we are going to do this, we must reduce bureaucracy, we must streamline industry fees and related charges, just to make sure that operators remain competitive. Our industry today operates at a significantly elevated premium in cost relative to other non-share jurisdictions. We must address the issue of access to long-term and affordable capital.
“Number three, we must ensure policy stability and adopt competitive fiscal frameworks that support resource monetization and stimulate interest rate growth.
“And last but not the least, we must stay focused in building investor confidence through full and effective implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, supported by strong, transparent and predictive regulatory institutions.”
