Afreximbank finances African Energy Chamber London reception

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed on as a finance partner to an upcoming London reception organised by the African Energy Chamber (AEC).

The reception on 11 July serves as a prelude to African Energy Week’s (AEW) ‘Invest in African Energy 2024’ conference in November.

Afreximbank acts as a strategic partner to Africa’s energy sector growth, financing and developing integrated projects that promote intra- and extra-African trade, as well as raising access to capital for project developers.

Earlier this month, Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers Organisation signed into implementation the Africa Energy Bank, designed to facilitate, promote and finance Africa’s oil, gas and energy industries.

The agreement marks a milestone in efforts to increase energy access and close the funding gap for oil and gas projects across the continent, with US$5 billion in initial capital raised from African signatories.

AEW’s conference is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and governments and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy.

The African continent has seen a series of recent energy sector deals, reflecting growing interest in the market and opening up opportunities for new players and investors.

In 2024 alone, deals include TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy acquiring majority control of Block 3B/4B offshore South Africa; Petrobras acquiring stakes in three exploration blocks in São Tomé and Príncipe; 88 Energy entering PEL 93 onshore Namibia; Energean acquiring operatorship of the Lixus and Rissana licences offshore Morocco; and Afentra acquiring interests in Blocks 3/05 and 305/A in Angola, among other transactions.

In addition to mergers and acquisitions, a number of Financial Investment Decisions (FIDs) are expected on large-scale upstream and midstream developments in the coming months.

In Namibia, TotalEnergies and Shell anticipate FID for the Venus-1X and Graff-1X deepwater discoveries by the end of 2024. TotalEnergies also anticipates a FID for the Matola LNG terminal in Mozambique this year. The Nigeria-Morocco Pipeline expects a FID in December 2024, which is set to transform regional energy access by supplying natural gas to Morocco, Europe and 13 West African nations.
The ‘Invest in African Energy’ reception in London serves to support European and global investment opportunities across the African energy value chain, attracting a new class of investors and strengthening cooperation between the two continents.

“We are determined to close the project finance gap when it comes to funding Africa’s oil, gas and energy industries.

There is no better partner for this than Afreximbank, who has played a central role in getting projects off the ground, building investor confidence and creating local project finance capacity.

We welcome Afreximbank as the finance partner to the ‘Invest in African Energy’ reception in London, which will set the stage for more deals and investments to be made at AEW 2024,” says AEC executive chairman NJ Ayuk.