Looking Within: Rewiring Africa’s Energy Security Landscape Amid Tensions in the Middle East

Instability in the Strait of Hormuz is accelerating the push for energy diversification and forcing deeper strategic cooperation across the African continent.

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The current energy landscape in North Africa is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by a combination of intense external volatility – stemming from geopolitical disruptions and global market fluctuations – and internal reconfigurations related to the pressing need to enhance energy security, achieve economic diversification and foster sustainable development.  

A key determinant remains the persistent instability around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical transit point for roughly one-fifth of global petroleum flows. Traffic there was brought to a halt by Iran following coordinated attacks by Israel and the United States in late February. While severely impacting nations dependent on fossil fuel imports, most notably Asian nations, disruptions in the strait are also shaping long-term diversification strategies and forming alternative energy partnerships.

Against this backdrop, North African states are progressively strengthening intra-regional energy linkages, reducing their reliance on external suppliers and vulnerable transit routes.

Egypt-Libya Energy Coordination: Pragmatic Interdependence

One of the clearest examples of this shift is the evolving energy coordination between Egypt and Libya. Between March and April, Egypt began integrating Libyan crude oil into its energy system, importing 1 to 1.2 million barrels per month to mitigate a severe domestic supply crisis.

Over the past year, oil production in Libya reached its highest levels in more than a decade, averaging 1.4 million barrels per day, up from an average of 1.37 million in 2025. This increase coincides with a period of relative political stability and reduced security threats that have enhanced operational conditions in the sector. A combination of concession extensions, competitive licensing and renewed operator engagement have encouraged the return of major international oil companies, including TotalEnergies, ConocoPhillips and Eni, which are seeking to capitalize on Libya’s substantial estimated reserves of crude oil. 

Crucially, this expansion in Libyan upstream production aligns with Egypt’s downstream capabilities, creating a mutually reinforcing energy relationship. Egypt possesses one of the most developed refining sectors in the region, with a nominal capacity of roughly 840,000 barrels per day across 10 companies and 12 refineries. 

Libya supplies upstream crude, while Egypt offers downstream processing, logistics, and export channels. In effect, this creates a functional energy corridor that reduces reliance on external Gulf supplies and positions Egypt as a critical anchor in the North African corridor.

Algeria’s Capital-Driven Energy Expansion in Africa

Unlike Egypt’s logistics-focused integration model, Algeria pursues a more capital-intensive strategy, investing directly in exploration, production capacity, and energy partnerships across Africa. This positions Algeria not only as an energy supplier but also as a financier of regional energy infrastructure. This approach is largely driven by Sonatrach, Algeria’s state-owned energy giant, which has extended its operations beyond national borders into upstream exploration and technical cooperation initiatives.

Niger and Sonatrach have entered a new phase of strategic energy cooperation, marked by the revival of joint hydrocarbon projects, with the Kafra oil block in northern Niger emerging as a central focus of bilateral engagement.

In Angola, Algeria has expanded its technical cooperation with Sonangol, where Algerian expertise has supported offshore engineering, refinery optimization, and the development of structured training programs for energy professionals. This reflects a broader South-South collaboration aimed at strengthening technical capacity and improving the performance and self-sufficiency of Africa’s energy sector. 

Beyond bilateral cooperation, Algeria is also advancing regional energy integration through large-scale infrastructure initiatives. A key example is the proposed Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, designed to transport natural gas from Nigeria through Niger to Algeria and onward to the European market.

Morocco-Nigeria Gas Pipeline: A Transcontinental Energy Corridor in the Making

A more ambitious illustration of African energy cooperation is the proposed Morocco–Nigeria Gas Pipeline project, a multi-country infrastructure initiative designed to transport natural gas from energy-rich Nigeria through 13 West African countries to Morocco and eventually into European markets. This project represents one of the most significant attempts at cross-regional energy integration in the continent.

Beyond this flagship initiative, Morocco’s approach to African energy cooperation extends into broader infrastructure and capacity-building efforts. Key pillars of this strategy are electricity interconnection and regional grid development, particularly through Morocco’s existing cross-border electricity links with Mauritania, reinforcing Morocco’s role as an emerging electricity hub in West Africa. 

This partnership reflects a broader vision of regional energy integration, bringing together Morocco’s experience in large-scale renewable energy deployment with Mauritania’s vast but largely untapped potential in solar, wind, and mineral resources. In the wider regional context, the potential integration of their grids into broader African power corridors opens pathways to connect renewable-rich areas with expanding industrial and population hubs, contributing to the emergence of an “African Green Power Belt”. 

Transitioning From Words to Facts

While the Strait of Hormuz remains a key point of vulnerability in global energy geopolitics, its indirect impact on Africa is reinforcing incentives for diversification and deeper regional cooperation. Across the continent, there is a clear shift toward an energy model where security depends less on external suppliers and more on regional interdependence, infrastructure connectivity, and diversified investment flow.

In response, African states are increasingly pursuing mutually reinforcing strategies that reflect different but interconnected models of energy integration. In North Africa, this is evident in Egypt-Libya operational interdependence, where crude supply aligns with downstream refining capacity; in Algeria’s capital-driven expansion through cross-border investment and technical cooperation; and in Morocco’s transcontinental infrastructure vision, most notably the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline initiative. 

Together, these developments signal the gradual consolidation of a more self-reliant African energy architecture, grounded in regional integration, shared infrastructure, and collective resilience.