The Africa Energy Bank (AEB) will begin financing projects in early 2027 after becoming operational within weeks, Farid Ghezali, secretary-general of the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), said at African Energy Week (AEW) 2026 in Cape Town. According to an October 13 media release by the African Energy Chamber (AEC), Ghezali made the remarks during a technical panel at the GECF-AEC Strategic Forum. The bank, established by APPO and Afreximbank, will prioritise projects under four areas: export infrastructure, domestic infrastructure, clean cooking and power. It will use a corridor-based approach to support regional economic development. APPO and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) also plan to harmonise transit tariffs and gas contracts across member states following an agreement earlier this year to cooperate on gas corridors. Ghezali said export commitments should not come at the expense of domestic supply. “I come from a country where you cannot export any drop of gas if the domestic demand is not satisfied,” he said. Panellists said limited investment in regional infrastructure was holding back domestic gas markets. Rashid Ali Abdallah, executive director of the African Energy Commission (AFREC), said funding had focused largely on export terminals, leaving cross-border pipelines struggling to secure finance. He called for regional financing frameworks and joint planning for gas pipelines and power transmission. South African industrial consumers could lose their natural gas supply within about 18 months, said Jaco Human, executive officer of the Industrial Gas Users Association of Southern Africa (IGUA-SA). The association represents industrial gas users and supports the development of a proposed gas-aggregation company to pool demand, share risk and help secure investment in new infrastructure. According to Human, a proposed pipeline from the Orange Basin to the Western Cape and inland markets would require annual demand of about 200 petajoules. “We have much more demand than that, so the problem is not an economic one,” Human said as quoted by the AEC. “Rather, it is a coordination problem.” Abubakar Abbas, senior energy forecast analyst at the GECF, said Africa would need at least $1 trillion over the next 30 years to develop its gas resources. Abderrezak Benyoucef, OPEC’s head of energy studies, said gas was expected to increase its share of Africa’s energy mix from 17% to 23% by 2050. Over that period, electricity generation could rise from less than 1,000 terawatt-hours to about 2,700 TWh, with gas accounting for half. The AEB is headquartered in Abuja. Nigeria handed over its offices to APPO and Afreximbank in February 2026. According to the NewsBase Horizon analyst team, the AEB’s planned launch is as an opportunity to address one of the continent’s main energy-sector constraints: the lack of financing for infrastructure that connects resources to domestic and regional markets. However, the bank’s impact will depend on its ability to mobilise capital, coordinate projects across borders and turn investment commitments into functioning pipelines and power networks. Africa’s challenge is not simply to develop more gas, but to ensure that production supports industrial growth, reliable electricity and affordable energy at home. If the bank can help align financing, regional demand and infrastructure planning, it could strengthen domestic markets while allowing producers to expand exports without compromising local supply.

Egypt and Cyprus have pledged closer coordination on the Cronos and Aphrodite offshore gas fields, which would use Egyptian plants to process and export Cypriot gas.

Egypt and Cyprus have pledged closer coordination to advance offshore natural gas projects, including the Cronos and Aphrodite fields, as both countries seek to use Egyptian infrastructure to process and export Cypriot gas, Economy Plus reported on October 7. Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi and Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry Michael Damianos discussed the projects on the sidelines of an East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) roundtable in Athens, Greece. The talks formed part of broader regional discussions involving Greece. No new final investment decision or binding development agreement was announced following the Athens meeting, which follows talks between the two ministers in June on the sidelines of the EMGF’s 10th ministerial meeting in Washington. Badawi said then that Egypt was ready to help conclude the remaining commercial and contractual arrangements needed for Aphrodite’s final investment decision. The Cronos field, located in Block 6 of Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone, contains more than 3 trillion cubic feet of gas initially in place, according to operator Eni (BIT: ENI; NYSE: E). The Italian company is developing the project in a 50:50 partnership with France’s TotalEnergies (EPA: TTE; NYSE: TTE). The project has advanced through a sequence of agreements over the past 18 months. Egypt, Cyprus, Eni and TotalEnergies signed a host government agreement in Cairo on February 17, 2025, followed in October 2025 by commercial agreements covering the transport, processing and liquefaction of Cronos gas in Egypt. The two governments then signed a framework agreement on March 30, 2026, on the sidelines of the Egypt Energy Show, bringing Cronos and Aphrodite under a single arrangement. The partners reached a final investment decision (FID) on July 28, 2026, with first gas targeted for 2028. Plateau production is projected at approximately 500mn cubic feet per day, equivalent to around 2.8mn tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually, according to the developers. Gas from Cronos is expected to be transported to Egypt through subsea infrastructure, processed using existing facilities associated with the Zohr gas development and liquefied at the Damietta LNG terminal, potentially for export to European markets. Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi said in July that the investment would help establish Cyprus as a gas producer and exporter while supporting an eastern Mediterranean gas hub using Egypt’s existing infrastructure. TotalEnergies has also highlighted the use of Egypt’s existing infrastructure to support a new regional gas hub. The Aphrodite field, operated by Chevron (NYSE: CVX) in Block 12, has a best estimate of 3.7 trillion cubic feet of contingent gas resources, according to an assessment commissioned by partner NewMed Energy and published in March 2026. Cyprus approved a revised development plan for Aphrodite in February 2025. NewMed Energy said in April 2026 that a term sheet had been initialled for the sale of all the field’s recoverable gas to the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) for up to 15 years, extendable by five, with peak contracted supply of around 700mn cubic feet per day. Gas would reach an onshore terminal at Port Said through a new subsea pipeline. The field’s partners, the Cyprus Hydrocarbons Company and EGAS then signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2026 covering the sale of the field’s gas to EGAS. Commercial arrangements remain under negotiation, and Aphrodite has yet to reach a final investment decision. Cypriot officials have identified 2027 as a target, with production potentially beginning around 2031, subject to outstanding commercial and regulatory agreements. The project also faces unresolved negotiations between Cyprus and Israel over the Aphrodite–Ishai reservoir, which extends across their maritime boundary. Damianos said in late September that the governments aimed to conclude an agreement by the end of October. Ownership of Aphrodite is also changing. Hungary’s MOL Group agreed in July to buy Shell’s 35% non-operated stake for up to $720mn, with completion expected in early 2027. Chevron holds 35% and NewMed Energy 30%. A third set of Cypriot discoveries was also on the agenda. The ministers reviewed a memorandum of understanding signed in May 2026 between Egypt, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and state-owned QatarEnergy to examine options for developing and commercialising separate Cypriot gas discoveries using Egyptian infrastructure. The agreement concerns the Glaucus and Pegasus discoveries in Cyprus’s Block 10 and provides a framework for evaluating commercialisation options rather than a binding investment commitment. ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy signed a declaration of commerciality with Cyprus for Glaucus and Pegasus on June 30. ExxonMobil operates the block with 60%, and QatarEnergy holds 40%. Egypt’s efforts to attract Cypriot gas come as declining domestic production has increased its dependence on imports. The country imported 985bn cubic feet of gas in the year to June 2026, and its output averaged under 4.4bn cubic feet per day, with a further fall to 4.2bn expected in the current fiscal year, Reuters reported in July, citing official documents. The agency also reported that Cairo was negotiating multiyear LNG supply contracts potentially costing $8bn–$11bn annually. Additional Cypriot production could eventually provide feedstock for Egypt’s existing processing and LNG facilities, although the volumes available for export will depend on project schedules, domestic gas demand and commercial arrangements.

Iraq is restarting oil exports, expanding outlets and advancing gas projects to restore revenues, stabilise supply and reshape its upstream sector amid regional disruption.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator's (MISO) Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS) has attracted a substantial 26,575 MW in proposed power projects, with natural gas-fired generation dominating submissions at approximately 75%. The ERAS process, designed to accelerate the integration of new energy sources onto the grid, includes proposals from various project types such as storage, renewable energy sources, and nuclear power. These diverse projects aim to address localized and rapidly increasing demand while bolstering grid reliability in response to a changing energy landscape, with MISO evaluating 68 projects over two cycles before concluding on August 31, 2027.

Insurers are cutting prices to attract low-risk oil and gas projects. Crude oil reaching a new all-time high by September 30 at 8.5% YES. The post Insurers cut prices to attract low-risk oil and gas projects: FT appeared first on Crypto Briefing.