The African Energy Commission (Afrec) is a continental African structure with the responsibility to ensure, co-ordinate and harmonise the protection, preservation, development and the national exploitation, marketing and integration of the energy resources of the African continent.
It was launched on the weekend of 11 July 2001 as the African Union's (AU) answer to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The commission was set up with the intention of coordinating policy for the energy-rich continent, and was launched after a three-day meeting of AU energy ministers in Algiers, Algeria.
Afrec will be the official energy arm of the AU, and includes such African nations such as Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria among its founders, nations who are also members of OPEC.
According to Chakib Khelil, Algerian energy minister and OPEC President, "Afrec is a framework of co-operation and co-ordination, but it is also a framework of action for Africans in the energy sector."
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