Africa’s largest energy projects are frequently plagued by repeated delays, pointing to persistent structural challenges across the continent’s energy sector, including financing constraints, governance issues, and significant legal risks. Projects in Nigeria, Mozambique, and East Africa have experienced years of setbacks and substantial cost overruns, illustrating how security concerns, funding gaps, and environmental opposition can derail major development initiatives.
One example is the African Energy Bank, established to address financing shortages in the sector but which has itself faced repeated delays to its launch. In early June 2026, Nigeria reaffirmed its commitment to launching the bank, an institution created in June 2024 through an agreement between the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization and Afreximbank, aiming to raise $5 billion in capital to support the hydrocarbons value chain alongside renewable energy development. Originally slated to begin operations by September 2024, the bank has consistently missed its launch schedules, with July 1, 2026, now serving as its fifth official target date.
The Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline in Nigeria offers another clear illustration. Launched in 2020 with a budget of $2.8 billion and initially scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2025, NNPC set a new target of July 2026 in April of this year. Six years after construction began, the pipeline remains unfinished, partly because financial support from China’s Sinosure proved insufficient, forcing NNPC to fund most of the project from its own resources.
In Mozambique, TotalEnergies’ LNG project, approved in 2019 with an initial budget of $15.5 billion, faced a major interruption due to jihadist attacks in Cabo Delgado province. The operator declared force majeure in 2021, suspending work for four years and adding roughly $4.5 billion in costs related to site security and staff retention, raising the total budget to approximately $20 billion. The project officially resumed in January 2026, after force majeure was lifted in November 2025, with first LNG deliveries now expected in 2029.
In East Africa, the 1,443-kilometre East African Crude Oil Pipeline, designed to link oil fields in Hoima, Uganda, to the Tanzanian port of Tanga, has also faced repeated delays. Initially due to begin operations in July 2025, the deadline slipped first to July 2026 and then to the end of 2026, with some analysts suggesting operations may not commence until 2027. The project’s budget has also climbed from $3.6 billion to $5.6 billion, a 55% cost overrun.
Source: Ecofin Agency