MENA energy spending forecast unchanged

The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP) projects countries from the Middle East and North Africa Region will invest an estimated $755 billion in energy projects over the coming five years, the development bank noted in its 2015-2019 forecast on Thursday. The forecast is marginally lower than APICORP’s previous estimate, $760 billion for 2014-2018.

Saudi Arabia will remain the MENA region’s main investor, with spending predicted to reach $127 billion. While significant, it represents a decrease of almost $50 billion compared with the 2014-2018 period. Saudi Arabia is followed by the UAE with $116 billion. Algeria is expected to complete the podium with $84 billion, closely followed by Iran.

The lion’s share of investment – close to 42 percent – will be directed towards power generation projects, which are expected to contribute to raising regional power generation capacity from 156 GW to 450 GW. MENA electricity demand is expected to grow at a rate of 8.3 percent per year.

According to the APICORP report, around $234 billion is expected to be invested in oil, with gas receiving some $204 billion in investment over the 2015-2019 period.