Ghana will be able to purchase petroleum products from Nigeria’s Dangote energy Refinery once it reaches full capacity, according to the country’s energy regulator.
According to Reuters, this might mean an end to $400 million in monthly fuel imports from Europe, said Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, chairman of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority, during the OTL Africa Downstream oil conference in Lagos.
“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.
According to him, importing from Nigeria rather than Europe will reduce the cost of other goods and services by eliminating freight expenditures. Eventually, he suggested African countries would agree on a common currency, which would reduce demand for dollars. Ghana’s economy experienced a 6.9% year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2024, primarily due to the rise of the extractive sector and increased demand for petroleum.
The Dangote Oil refinery, built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, is scheduled to be near full capacity by the end of the year, with analysts predicting it would be fully operating in the first quarter of 2025.
