Abderrezak Benyoucef, a unit head at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Africa needs a minimum of $125 billion in refining investment between now and 2050 to fund current and future projects.

Speaking at the African Energy Week 2026 in Cape Town on Wednesday, Mr Benyoucef said African refineries were running below capacity as they were only processing less than three million barrels per day.

He said OPEC expects Africa to increase its distillation capacity to 7.9 million bpd by 2050 which would still be insufficient to meet OPEC projects estimated to require 9.3l2 million bpd.

“Talking about capacity, we have also to talk about how much we get from these refineries,” Mr Benyoucef, head of OPEC’s of energy studies department, said.

OPEC secretary-general Haitham Al Ghais projected Africa’s population to grow by 4.4 per cent from now till 2050, adding around 917 million people. drawing on 2026 World Oil Outlook. He said the continent holds about 120 billion barrels in crude reserves and 18 trillion cubic metres in gas reserves.

“Africa cannot and should not be expected to forgo development opportunities, energy security and poverty eradication in response to a problem which it had very little to do with the creation of,” he said.

Mr Benyoucef noted that about 700 million people in Africa will still lack access to clean cooking energy by 2050 but said OPEC was working on alternatives that will reduce the figure.

He urged energy stakeholders to attend the 10th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna on July 7-8 2027, to discuss Africa’s energy issues.