The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO) have formally established the Africa Energy Bank (AEB), a pan-African financial institution designed to bridge the continent’s energy financing gap and support investments across the oil and gas value chain.
The announcement was made on Saturday at the inaugural general meeting of the Africa Energy Bank held in Abuja, following resolutions that set the institution’s governance structure in motion.
With an authorised capital of $5 billion, the bank is expected to mobilise funding for energy projects across Africa at a time when the continent’s energy investment requirements are estimated at $200 billion.
The establishment of the institution comes amid growing concerns over the withdrawal of traditional international lenders from financing fossil fuel projects, despite the continued importance of oil and gas to Africa’s energy security and industrial development.
Afreximbank and APPO said the new institution would help address the financing shortfall while supporting a just energy transition that reflects the development priorities of African countries.
The bank’s mandate covers the entire energy value chain, including exploration and production, transportation, processing, refining and distribution.
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Its investments are expected to strengthen Africa’s productive capacity, reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and promote intra-African trade in energy commodities.
The institution will also seek to increase African ownership and participation in the continent’s energy industry, ensuring that the development of its energy resources is increasingly driven by African capital and expertise.
Speaking on the significance of the initiative, the promoters said substantial investments in energy generation and transmission were critical to accelerating industrialisation and positioning African economies to benefit from emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence.
The Africa Energy Bank will operate as an independent, supranational pan-African financial institution, with plans to attract investments from governments, national oil companies, financial institutions and private investors.
At the inaugural general meeting, members approved the appointment of Mr Helmy Ghazi as the bank’s first president and constituted its inaugural Board of Directors.
The board comprises representatives from the public and private sectors, as well as leading policy institutions across the continent.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri; President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Dr George Elombi; and Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly.
The establishment of the bank represents a major effort by African governments and institutions to develop indigenous financing capacity for the continent’s energy sector, particularly as access to international capital for oil and gas projects becomes increasingly constrained.
Afreximbank, headquartered in Cairo, Egypt, is a pan-African multilateral financial institution established to finance and promote intra-African and extra-African trade. Its total assets and contingencies stood at more than $54.1 billion at the end of September 2026, while shareholders’ funds amounted to $9 billion.
APPO, founded in Lagos on January 27, 1987, is an intergovernmental organisation established to promote cooperation among African oil-producing countries through policy coordination, knowledge sharing and collaboration in the petroleum industry.
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