MENA energy investments to exceed $805bn by 2025

Muscat - The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp), a multilateral development financial institution, has estimated that overall planned and committed energy sector investments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will exceed US$805bn over the next five years (2021–2025).

In a new report, Apicorp attributes the modest rise in investments to four factors: A strong confidence in the rebound of global GDP, rising energy demand, the comeback of Libyan projects – which alone accounts for around US$10bn in planned projects – and the accelerated pace of renewables in the region.

Apicorp said that renewables claim a significant share of almost 40 per cent of the estimated US$250bn in power sector investments. The MENA region will add 3GW of installed solar power capacity in 2021 alone – double that of 2020 – and 20GW over the next five years.

Committed gas investments are projected to fall by US$9.5bn to US$75bn after completion of several megaprojects in 2020.

The report noted that additional capacity – particularly from renewables – will make power trading a more commercially viable option in MENA.