The chairman of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in Ghana, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid announced on Monday, October 28 that his country may purchase petroleum products from Dangote petroleum refinery once it reaches full capacity so as to reduce costly importation from Europe.
He made these remarks at the Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Africa Downstream oil conference in Lagos, Nigeria.
Mustapha Abdul-Hamid stated that this move could eliminate monthly petroleum imports from Europe costing $400 million.
The $20 billion Dangote refinery, located in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria, began supplying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, to the Nigerian market on Sunday, September 15.
However, marketers in Nigeria have started importing PMS in hundreds of millions of liters since the Federal Government (FG) fully deregulated the downstream oil sector.
At the event in Lagos on Monday, October 28 the Ghanaian petroleum authority representative announced that his country may begin importing fuel from the Nigerian refinery.
“If the refinery reaches 650,000 barrels per day (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 refinery, constructed by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, is anticipated to reach near full capacity by the end of the year, with analysts projecting it could be fully operational by the first quarter of 2025.
Hamid stated that importing from Nigeria instead of Europe would lower the prices of various goods and services by eliminating freight costs.
He also stated that, eventually, African countries might reach an agreement on a common currency, which would reduce the demand for dollars.
Ghana’s economy grew by 6.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024, primarily fueled by significant growth in the extractive sector, which has increased demand for fuel.
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