Ghana could buy crude oil from Nigeria’s Dangote refinery when it reaches capacity and cut back on more expensive exports from Europe, the head of Ghana’s petroleum regulator said on Monday.
Ghana National Petroleum Corporation chairman Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said this could end $400 million a month in oil exports from Europe. He was speaking at the OTL Africa Downstream Petroleum 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,” Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, chairman of the National Petroleum Authority said.
The $20 billion Lekki Dangote Refinery began producing high-quality motor oil (popularly known as gasoline) for the Nigerian market on September 15, 2024.
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However, marketers of the product in Nigeria have begun exporting hundreds of millions of litres of PMS following the government’s decision to completely divest the petroleum industry in Nigeria.
The Dangote refinery, built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, is expected to be operating at near full capacity by the end of this year, with analysts suggesting the facility could be operational from the first third quarter of 2025.
Hamid said that exports from Nigeria to Europe would eliminate transportation costs and reduce the cost of other goods and services. Finally, he said that African countries would agree on a single currency, which would increase demand for the dollar.
Ghana’s economy grew by 6.9% annually in the second quarter of 2024, driven by the expansion of the mining sector, which increased oil demand.
