Total energy investments in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are likely to hit the $1-trillion mark over the five years with the GCC countries spearheading the growth, according to a report.

While global investments in the industry continued their decline in 2016 – down by 24 per cent as compared to 2015 – the Mena region is expected to see an increase of seven per cent in energy investment activity compared to data of the previous year, stated Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) in its latest edition of the Mena Energy Investments Outlook.

Governments continue to make investments in the energy sector a priority, and it is expected that a number of critical projects will be executed and completed successfully in the next five years. Plans for power projects are at the top of the five-year agenda in many countries, it added.

Apicorp pointed out that a total of $337 billion had already been committed to projects under execution at the end of the previous year.

With an additional $622 billion worth of developments in the planning stage, the committed and planned investments could add up to $959 billion over a five-year period, compared to $900 billion in 2015.