Africa requires up to $115 billion in investment to develop its gas midstream infrastructure between 2031 and 2040, according to the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). The funding would support pipelines, processing facilities, storage, liquefaction and distribution networks needed to transform the continent's 15 trillion cubic metres of natural gas reserves into affordable energy. The GECF Secretary General, Dr Philip Mshelbila, made the announcement at Africa Energy Week 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa, noting that this investment sits on top of a broader annual energy investment gap estimated between $31 billion and $50 billion.
Africa holds over 8 per cent of global natural gas reserves but has largely failed to monetise this resource due to insufficient investment and infrastructure. The continent faces a stark energy access challenge: nearly one in five people globally live in Africa today, yet the region accounts for less than 6 per cent of world energy consumption. By 2050, Africa is projected to be home to one in four people globally but will still consume less than one-tenth of world energy. Mshelbila emphasised that undeveloped reserves generate no economic benefit until converted into usable energy, pointing out that 80 per cent of annual capital expenditure since 2019 has merely replaced natural decline in existing fields.
The GECF outlined five priorities to close the investment gap: increasing upstream production, building domestic and regional infrastructure and interconnectivity, prioritising local value addition, deploying innovative financing mechanisms, and resolving domestic gas pricing issues. Mshelbila highlighted flagship projects including the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline, the Africa Atlantic Gas Pipeline, and connections between South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique as critical to creating a pan-African gas network. He stressed that while LNG and pipeline exports generate foreign currency, the greatest economic gains come from processing gas locally into fertiliser, plastics, fabrics and electricity, which strengthens value chains and creates employment.
The GECF, which includes nine African nations among its 20 members, positioned natural gas as essential to Africa's broader development agenda. Mshelbila described gas not merely as a transition fuel but as a transformation fuel that enables industrialisation, stabilises power grids, supports fertiliser production and provides cleaner cooking. Global gas demand is expected to grow 31 per cent by 2055, with 86 per cent of production by then coming from currently undeveloped resources. The energy infrastructure investment would support continental objectives including Agenda 2063, the African Continental Free Trade Area and Mission 300 on energy access and regional integration.
For savers, borrowers, business owners and investors in Nigeria and across Africa, inadequate gas infrastructure investment threatens energy security, raises electricity costs, limits manufacturing competitiveness and constrains economic growth.