By: Energy capital & power

Three member countries of the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO) – Nigeria, Angola and Ghana – have contributed their requisite capital shares toward the establishment of the African Energy Bank (AEB).

The contributions represent 44% of the minimum required funding from APPO members to initiate the bank’s operations, explained Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Secretary General of APPO, during the Congo Energy Investment Forum this week.

APPO has allocated each of its 18 member states to pay $83 million to raise the $5 billion initial capitalization for the AEB. Five additional APPO member states – Algeria, Benin, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast – have committed to make their payments in line with the bank’s first-half 2025 operational target, according to Dr. Ibrahim.

Multilateral financial institution Afreximbank and other investors will provide the remaining capital to raise the requisite funding for the bank. Looking ahead, APPO and Afreximbank will now begin recruiting key management personnel and installing the necessary technological infrastructure.

“The AEB has been one of the fastest banks to move from conceptualization to realization,” stated Dr. Ibrahim. “In 2022, we signed an MoU with Afreximbank to explore the bank’s establishment. By June 3 – two years later – we had completed and signed the agreements, and by September, member states had ratified its establishment. By 2024, we had a legally recognized the treaty for the bank.”

 The AEB will be governed by a board of directors comprising three representatives from APPO and three from Afreximbank. The bank will finance African oil and gas projects and offer advisory, capital market and risk management services.