Besides the 678-km West Africa gas pipeline completed in 2008, linking Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana, few regional oil and gas projects exist to take products where they are needed.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry has cautioned against long-term oil and gas infrastructure investment in Africa, urging countries to turn to renewables instead.
"Africa's track record for gas projects in this regard is not encouraging," the IEA said, citing delays in TotalEnergies' Mozambique project and in the Senegal-Mauritania gas project.
"Funding requirements for the oil and gas industry in Africa far exceeds the capacity of any one individual country in Africa.
Previous plans for major regional projects such as large-scale refineries have been thwarted by rivalries, ending in countries constructing small refineries that eventually failed, the expert added.