Technical Complexities, Funding, Slows Key Nigeria Gas Infrastructure Projects, Says African Energy Chamber

The African Energy Chamber (AEC), has raised serious concerns about the snail speed of construction of major gas pipeline projects across Africa, with particular attention to key projects driven by Nigeria.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), in it’s recent report, said that the construction of the $2.8 billion Ajaokuta Kaduna Kano gas pipeline project has reached 90 per cent completion as of November, 2025.

The AKK Gas Pipeline is intended to channel gas from southern production fields to growing industrial hubs in the north, a cornerstone of the country’s strategy to transform its vast gas reserves into a catalyst for domestic industrial growth.

The AKK pipeline can transport two billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day to three proposed independent power plants in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, and other gas-based industries as well as other identified commercial off-takers along the entire pipeline route. The project faces challenges including political instability, theft, and sabotage along the route.

The group chief executive officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari,  stated that the company has integrated technology to lower its production cost from the current average of $40 per barrel to achieve optimal results.

In alignment with Nigeria’s energy transition plan, which seeks to achieve net zero emissions by 2060, NNPCL has initiated several gas led transition programs, including the expansion of the autogas programme, targeting over 1 million vehicles through 2026.

Meanwhile, the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline (AAGP), a transcontinental initiative linking Nigeria to Morocco and potentially Europe, represents Africa’s most ambitious regional vision. The 5,660 kilometer corridor, advancing toward construction as of August 2025, is intended to deliver billions of cubic meters of natural gas annually across West Africa.

Its potential impact is transformative: supplying energy to hundreds of millions, promoting cross border industrial development and positioning Africa as a strategic gas supplier to Europe amid global supply uncertainties.

Yet the sheer scale of the AAGP highlights the persistent factors slowing African pipelines: securing long term financing, coordinating multiple governments, navigating complex environmental and regulatory landscapes and managing security risks over thousands of kilometers.

Across the continent, several common challenges explain why pipeline projects often move slowly.

The Chamber highlighted that technical complexity, regulatory delays, and investor concerns over political and security risks remain major obstacles to accelerating pipeline development across Africa.

African Energy Week (AEW), scheduled to return to Cape Town from October 12 to 16, 2026, plays a vital role in addressing these challenges. The event provides a central forum for dialogue between governments, energy companies, financiers and international stakeholders, bringing together the decision makers who can navigate regulatory frameworks, unlock investment and advance cross border cooperation.

In 2025, AEW discussions highlighted that while Africa’s pipeline ambitions are technically feasible, progress now depends on coordinated action across policy, finance and engineering.

These projects are more than engineering undertakings; they are strategic levers for industrialisation, regional integration, and economic transformation.

Africa’s major pipeline projects hold transformative potential, but financing, technical and regulatory hurdles continue to shape their pace and impact, according to the African Energy Chamber. While Africa possesses vast hydrocarbon resources, decades of underdeveloped infrastructure continue to limit the economic potential of its oil and gas sector.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), stretching over 1,400 kilometers from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania, finally secured the full $5 billion required in late 2025, backed by African lenders and development finance institutions. As of June 2025, 60 per cent of the construction work had been completed.

This breakthrough removes one of the project’s most significant hurdles and restores momentum after periods of stalled progress. By mid 2025, construction had already reached roughly 60 per cent completion, but the prolonged funding shortfall had threatened to slow the schedule. Even with financing now secured, EACOP underscores the delicate balance African energy projects must navigate: the promise of export revenues and industrial development on one hand, and the environmental, social and regulatory complexities of building a cross border pipeline through sensitive landscapes on the other.

The pipeline is majority owned by TotalEnergies at 62 per cent, Uganda’s National Oil Company (UNOC) at 15 per cent, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) 15 per cent and CNOOC at eight per cent. Once completed, the pipeline would be the cross-border, trans-territorial pipeline in the world.