Ghana could purchase petroleum products from Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery once the facility is running at full capacity, reducing the need for more expensive imports from Europe, the head of the country’s oil regulator said on Monday.
Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, chairman of the National Petroleum Authority, Ghana, said at the OTL Africa Downstream oil conference in Lagos that this move could eliminate monthly fuel imports from Europe totalling $400 million.
“If the refinery reaches 650,000 bpd a day capacity, all that volume cannot be consumed by Nigeria alone, so instead of us importing as we do right now from Rotterdam, it will be much easier for us to import from Nigeria and I believe that will bring down our prices,” Hamid said.
The Dangote Oil Refinery, built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, is expected to function at near full capacity by the end of 2024, and experts believe it might be entirely operational by the first quarter of 2025.
Hamid mentioned that sourcing imports from Nigeria instead of Europe would reduce the prices of various goods and services by removing shipping expenses. He indicated that eventually, African nations would agree on a unified currency, which would lessen the demand for dollars.
Ghana’s economy experienced a 6.9% year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2024. This growth has largely been fuelled by significant improvements in the extractive sector, which has resulted in increased fuel demand.