By Onu Okorie
The Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority NMDPRA Engr Farouk A. Ahmed has disclosed that the regional supply of fuels in West Africa has grown through improved refining capacities in Nigeria, Ghana, Niger, Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire, which currently stands at 1.335 million barrels per day.
Ahmed revealed this yesterday in Abuja during the West African conference on oil and gas organized by the NMDPRA through a strategic partnership with S&P Global to establish the pathway towards creating an African reference market for refined petroleum products.
He also stated that the 2025 statistical data for fuel supply in the West African region reveals that 2.05 million MT per month of Gasoline is being traded, consisting of 1.44 million MT (69%) imports and 0.61 million MT (31%) refinery contribution from the region.
According to him, “Furthermore, the 2025 OPEC World Oil Outlook projects 1.2 million barrels per day additional refining capacity in Africa, between 2025 and 2030.
“The West African region will make significant contribution to this projection through new projects, upgrades and rehabilitations, which are currently at various levels of completion in the different countries. These increased refining capacities will improve the market liquidity of refined Petroleum products in the region.” However, despite being a significant producer of hydrocarbon resources, an important consumer of refined petroleum products and a growing refining hub, he noted that the region has continued to depend on posted prices of
global reference markets such as Northwest Europe (NWE), US Gulf Coast, Mediterranean, Singapore, Arab Gulf etc. for all its trading activities.
He also explained that while these benchmarks, are globally accepted but, often they do not reflect the unique supply chain peculiarities, market dynamics, and economic realities of the African continent. He then pointed out that the regional pricing benchmark that promotes price discovery, transparency, deepened market development and enhanced availability of energy has become a strategic objective that requires the collaborative action of all the stakeholders that are major players in this market.
And to achieve that, establishing a regional pricing reference point would facilitate: Growth of trading of petroleum products in the region: Establishment of additional storage and supply infrastructures to accommodate the growing volumes of trading activities ; Real-time pricing data that is reflective of the peculiarities of the West African market fundamentals: Attracting downstream investments through various Trade Zones and digital market platforms; Supply chain visibility and energy security across the regionand beyond .
He said that under the visionary leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, key policies and market development reforms have been implemented in Nigeria which is enabling the growth of the petroleum industry and attractive investment opportunities in the sector.
“These reforms include the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, full liberalization of the downstream sector, improving macro-economic environment, and ease of doing business.” He stated.
Speaking further Ahmed said that partnership with S&P Global Commodity Insights seeks to employ World class market intelligence, reliable data integrity and extensive experience in the development of market benchmarks by S&P and the regulatory expertise of the NMDPRA to launch pilot indices that capture refined product prices such as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Automotive Gasoil (AGO), Aviation Turbine Kerosene ATK, and LPG in Nigeria and West African energy markets.
