AEW 2026: OPEC-Africa Talks Put Producers at Centre of Global Supply

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will host the OPEC-Africa Roundtable during African Energy Week (AEW) 2026, running from 12 to 16 October in Cape Town.

The session brings together OPEC leadership and African producers to align on capacity expansion, investment coordination and downstream operations, set against OPEC's forecast of 1.4 million bpd in global oil demand growth for 2026.

OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais will attend AEW 2026 and engage directly with the continent's producers, investors and policymakers.

Six of OPEC's 11 member states are African: Nigeria, Algeria, Libya, the Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Together with the continent's non-OPEC producers, these countries hold roughly 120 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and account for about 8% of global crude supply, with total output estimated between 6.5 and 7 million bpd.

Nigeria, OPEC's largest African producer, pumped 1.46 million bpd in January 2026. Algeria's output stands near 1.1 million bpd, alongside gas expansion led by Sonatrach.

Capital needs and Africa's refining shortfall

OPEC's 2026 World Oil Outlook projects $17.7 trillion in cumulative oil-related investment from 2026 to 2050, averaging more than $700 billion a year.

Within Africa, upstream capital expenditure is expected to reach $41 billion in 2026, with exploration concentrated in deepwater basins off Namibia, Senegal, Mozambique and the Gulf of Guinea.

OPEC's long-term outlook projects African oil consumption will nearly double, from 4.9 million bpd in 2025 to 9.2 million bpd by 2050.

Disruptions to Middle Eastern supply routes have pushed importers to look for alternatives, and African crude, which ships directly from Atlantic and Indian Ocean coastlines, gives buyers geographic options that other regions cannot match.

The roundtable will assess how African producers can help fill that supply gap while building their own energy security.

Production discipline, downstream capacity and coordinated engagement within the OPEC+ framework are all expected to feature in the discussion.

Many of Africa's oil-exporting nations still import refined petroleum products, a gap the session will address by examining how upstream growth can be aligned with refining and domestic off-take.

NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, said "African producers have spent too long on the margins of global supply coordination."

He said Africa has both the reserves and the demand to matter in this conversation, and that the continent now needs the infrastructure, refining capacity and discipline to operate as a reliable partner within the OPEC+ framework.