Cape Town: Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, President of the Strategic Partnership and Fund Committee for the Central African Pipeline System (CAPS), is set to return as a speaker at this year's African Energy Week 2025. His participation marks a significant step forward in the development of CAPS, an ambitious initiative aimed at building an integrated network of downstream and midstream oil and gas infrastructure across Central Africa. This effort is intended to improve energy access, reduce reliance on fuel imports, and stimulate industrial growth across the region.

According to African Press Organization, the advancement of projects like CAPS is crucial to addressing energy poverty affecting 600 million individuals and providing clean cooking solutions to over 900 million people across Africa. In July 2025, a pivotal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), and the Central Africa Business and Energy Forum. This MoU initiates a feasibility study for CAPS, involving up to 11 Central African countries to assess the project's viability, regional impact, and contributions at the national level.

The proposed 6,500km pipeline network aims to enhance the resilience and affordability of Central Africa's energy market by optimizing the exploitation, local refinement, and distribution of the continent's vast reserves, which include an estimated 125.3 billion barrels of crude oil and 620 trillion cubic feet of gas resources.