Africa Energy Bank to Begin Operations in October 2026

The Africa Energy Bank (AEB), established by the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) and Afreximbank to help close Africa's energy financing gap, is expected to begin operations in October 2026, former APPO Secretary-General Omar Farouk said at Africa Oil Week (AOW) in Accra, Ghana.

"All hurdles have been overcome and I can confidently say that the bank has come close to starting operations," Farouk said, pointing to a launch date that has been anticipated for some time as the institution worked through its remaining setup requirements.

The AEB's start comes as African officials warn of a widening gap between how much the continent needs to invest in energy and how much it currently receives.

Speaking at the same event, Adegbite Falade, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), said Africa requires more than $200 billion annually in energy investment by 2030 to develop oil and gas, expand power generation and grow clean energy, but currently attracts just over half of that amount.

According to Falade, Africa, home to about a fifth of the world's population, receives only about 3% of global energy investment.

Bank designed to fill a gap left by global lenders

Falade described the AEB as "purpose-built to bridge the upstream and midstream financing gap left by traditional global financiers," referring to the exploration, production and pipeline or storage infrastructure segments of the oil and gas industry that have found it increasingly difficult to attract international funding.

He called the bank's creation Africa's clearest statement yet that the continent intends to finance its own hydrocarbon future rather than wait for outside investors, and said that securing this future would require African countries to build up their own institutional and financial capacity at a time when international capital is retreating from the sector.

For the bank to make a difference once it opens, Falade averred that African producers will need to bring forward well-structured, "high-impact, bankable projects" capable of attracting its financing.

He singled out gas infrastructure as a priority area, noting that natural gas already generates around 40% of the continent's electricity, yet Africa has less than 50,000 kilometres of oil and gas trunk pipelines, the large-diameter pipelines that move gas or oil over long distances, compared with more than 200,000 kilometres in Europe. "Reserves without pipelines are simply stranded molecules benefiting no one," he said.

With October's start date approaching, attention is likely to turn to how quickly the AEB can begin disbursing financing and how many bankable projects producers are able to bring to it in the bank's first months of operation.