Kola Karim’s Shoreline gets $200 million Afreximbank-backed facility for Algeria’s $980 million project

Shoreline Natural Resources, a Lagos-based indigenous energy exploration and production company founded by Nigerian businessman Kola Karim, has secured a $200 million global revolving dual-tranche facility from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to support its role in Algeria’s $980 million Hassi Bir Rekaiz (HBR) Field Development project.

The financing, approved in June 2026, will be deployed through Shoreline Power Company Limited and its co-borrowers, including Arkad SpA, to fund Arkad’s 44% contractual share in the landmark engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the HBR Field Development Phase 2a project. The contract was awarded by Groupement Hassi Bir Rekaiz (GHBR), a joint venture comprising Sonatrach, PTTEP, and CEPSA.

Facility structure and execution strategy

Afreximbank acted as sole mandated lead arranger and lender, structuring the $200 million package into two components: a $110 million one-off contract finance facility and a $90 million revolving global facility. The contract finance portion will support Arkad’s issuance of performance and advance payment guarantees, alongside working capital requirements tied to the HBR Phase 2a EPC contract.

The revolving facility will provide broader funding support to Shoreline and its affiliates, enabling them to bid for and execute pipeline and infrastructure projects across Nigeria and other permitted markets.

Scaling Algeria’s production capacity

The project will support the development of a new central processing facility for HBR Field Phase 2a, expected to increase Algeria’s oil and gas production capacity from approximately 13,000 barrels per day to between 50,000 and 60,000 barrels per day. The expansion is projected to generate significant foreign exchange earnings for Sonatrach and the Algerian economy.

Strengthening African EPC capabilities

Structured under Afreximbank’s EPC Initiative, the transaction is designed to empower African engineering and construction firms with the financial and technical capacity to execute large-scale infrastructure projects. The development is expected to create approximately 6,000 jobs while catalyzing regional supply-chain growth in Algeria.

The project also highlights growing intra-African collaboration, bringing together Arkad and Petrojet in a consortium that underscores cross-border engineering expertise and capital flows.

IATF deal-making momentum

The financing builds on partnerships formed during the Intra-African Trade Fair 2025, where Afreximbank facilitated collaboration between Arkad and Petrojet. The event generated approximately $50 billion in trade and investment deals, reinforcing its role in accelerating intra-African commerce.

Afreximbank’s strategic push

Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President for Intra-African Trade Finance and Export Development at Afreximbank, said the transaction reflects the bank’s commitment to enabling African champions to compete globally while advancing intra-African trade in high-value engineering and construction services.

A cross-regional milestone

Shoreline Natural Resources Limited is a Nigerian upstream oil and gas exploration and production company. Incorporated in 2010 by Kola Karim, it is a joint venture between Shoreline Power Company Limited and Heritage Oil. Their flagship asset is OML 30, a massive 1,097-square-kilometer onshore block in the Niger Delta.

The deal marks the first time Afreximbank has supported a Sub-Saharan African contractor in executing a major infrastructure project in North Africa, signaling deeper regional integration and the emergence of pan-African engineering firms capable of delivering complex, sovereign-scale projects.