Egypt Eyes Expanded African Energy Collaboration

Egypt is offering its infrastructure and technical expertise as a foundation for greater energy cooperation across Africa. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi announced this vision at the Alamein Africa Forum last week, emphasizing the need to move beyond exporting raw resources toward developing integrated value chains within the continent.

Badawi highlighted Egypt’s strategic assets—refineries in Idku and Damietta, petroleum ports, pipelines, LNG facilities—as potential hubs connecting African producers with markets globally. He envisions these capabilities supporting refining, blending, storage, transportation, and higher-value product manufacturing across the energy sector.

“Resilience means developing the capacity to process more of our own resources,” Badawi stated. “By retaining a greater share of value within Africa’s energy chain, we can strengthen our economies and create new opportunities for growth.” Egyptian companies already operate in several African countries including Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, and Angola.

Addressing Investment Challenges

The forum also addressed barriers to energy resilience across the continent. Panelists noted that high project costs and lengthy development timelines hinder progress toward sustainable power systems. Edu Okeke, CEO of Azura Power, pointed to their experience in Nigeria where a power project took six years to develop—significantly longer than comparable projects elsewhere.

“Africa should be adding 1,000MW annually for sustainability,” Okeke emphasized. “When combined with high financing costs and other constraints, these delays ultimately raise the cost of electricity generation.” He noted that gas-fired power plants in Africa currently cost $1.5 million per MW to build versus around $1 million elsewhere.

Vanessa Baldwin Mushi, CEO of CATA Energy, added that political pressure to maintain low tariffs discourages private investment. “Tariffs must reflect the true cost of providing electricity,” she said. “Targeted subsidies can protect consumers without jeopardizing project economics.”

Egypt’s proposal aligns with broader calls for African nations to strengthen regional integration and industrialize their natural resource sectors, rather than exporting raw materials at lower prices.