Ministers from member countries of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO), meeting in Brazzaville on November 4, set the course for the coming months. Discussions were dominated by the decision to accelerate the launch of the African Energy Bank (AEB) and the renewal of the organization’s governing bodies, which are tasked with leading reforms of the intra-African market.
The Congolese capital hosted the 48th Ordinary Session of the APPO Council of Ministers, held under the high patronage of the Congolese Head of State, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and chaired by the Congolese Minister of Hydrocarbons, Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, who also serves as the organization’s current Chair. The ministers present, representing 16 member countries, reiterated their commitment to quickly raise the initial capital of US$500 million required for the effective launch of the AEB bank in 2026.
A ministerial working group led by Mohamed Arkab, Algeria’s Minister of State for Hydrocarbons and Mines, was tasked with finalizing the creation process, in collaboration with the APPO Secretariat and the African Energy Investment Corporation (AEICorp). A second working group, chaired by the Senegalese Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Birame Soulèye Diop, will be responsible for evaluating the operations of the mandated company, AEICorp.
At the institutional level, the Council of Ministers appointed Algerian Farid Ghezali as Secretary General of APPO for the period 2026-2028, succeeding Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, to whom a motion of congratulations was addressed for his six years of dedicated service at the head of this strategic position of the organization.
Ivory Coast will assume the presidency of APPO in 2026 with the Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Gas, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, while the Democratic Republic of Congo will occupy the vice-presidency with the Minister of State in charge of Hydrocarbons, Acacia Bandubola Mbongo.
The organization, which includes Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tunisia, is calling for forward-looking reforms. Minister Bruno Jean Richard Itoua praised the progress made since the creation of APPO 38 years ago, particularly the establishment of the AEB, designed to finance the development of the African oil and gas sector.
The incoming president of APPO, Ivorian Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, called for deep reform and better coordination of actions to strengthen the organization’s effectiveness.
Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly also stressed the need to implement the joint declaration on local content adopted by the ministers. He argued that 2026 should mark a decisive step in fulfilling the commitments made, emphasizing that the African continent can no longer afford ” the luxury of importing petroleum goods and services that it can produce itself .” In this regard, he highlighted the example of Côte d’Ivoire, where the government is working to strengthen the capacity of national companies so that the majority of goods and services related to the energy sector are contracted locally.
