Amid the raging global energy crisis, Central African countries signed an ambitious deal on 8 September to create a regional oil and gas pipeline network by 2030.
The scheme envisages building three multinational oil and gas pipeline systems approximately 6,500km long, with accompanying storage depots, liquefied natural gas terminals, at least three refineries and gas-fired power plants linking 11 countries according to project documents cited by Reuters.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the African Petroleum Producers' Organization (APPO), one of the backers of the project, and the Central Africa Business Energy Forum (CABEF).
The forum, hosted by Cameroon, took place on 8 and 9 September. Now that the MoU has been signed, feasibility studies can get underway.
West Africa's gas pipeline linking Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana served as one of the templates for the new project, according to Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of OPEC member Equatorial Guinea.
He also cited the successful European model of the five oil refineries situated in the port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. They form the core of a petrochemical cluster serving as a refining and distributing hub for several countries.
Reflecting on how much the project will cost, he told journalists:
“It will not be cheap, or easy, but if it is done as a collaboration, it will work."
The minister added that the network will allow the delivery of regional oil and gas products to areas where they are most needed.
Countries of central Africa, such as Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, Chad, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Republic are all oil producers or possess untapped oil and gas reserves. However, shortcomings in refining capacity and the lack of financing to modernize facilities have left them dependent on imported refined products. This was rendered ever more challenging by the raging global energy crisis, with its soaring energy costs, global supply disruptions and geopolitical turmoil, such as the western sanctions on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine.
Fall-out from the restrictions hit supply chains and disrupted deliveries of raw materials. Furthermore, the US ban on Russian energy and the EU's pledge to wean itself off supplies of hydrocarbons from Russia have resulted in rocketing oil and gas prices.
Looking ahead, Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Secretary General of APPO, emphasized that once completed, the new energy infrastructure project had the potential to change the economies of participating countries dramatically.
"It shall take energy from areas of abundance to areas of need within the central African sub-region. It shall integrate and energize the national economies of the central Africa sub-region," Ibrahim said.