Business
FG backs regional petrol pricing benchmark for West Africa
By By Obas Esiedesa
The Federal Government has backed the establishment of a regional petrol pricing benchmark for West Africa, saying the initiative will strengthen energy security, deepen cross-border trade and enable the region to determine the value of its refined petroleum products.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, stated this yesterday at the 2026 West Africa Refined Fuel Market (WAFRFM) Conference in Abuja, where regulators, refiners, traders and investors discussed plans for a regional petroleum pricing and trading hub.
Lokpobiri said Nigeria’s deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector was designed to unlock investment and allow market forces to play a greater role in determining petroleum prices.
He, however, stressed that Nigeria could not achieve the objective alone, calling for stronger cooperation among West African countries and greater alignment of regulatory frameworks.
“If we are successful in Nigeria, we haven’t achieved our objective. We want Ghana to suacceed,” he said.
According to him, an integrated regional market would enable West African countries to maximise their respective advantages, attract investment and reduce the dependence of African petroleum markets on pricing structures determined outside the continent.
Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Rabiu Umar, said the conference marked a shift from developing a roadmap to implementing the regional market framework.
He said the inaugural conference in 2025 laid the foundation for a West African refined-products reference market, focusing on refining capacity, logistics, storage, infrastructure, regulatory cooperation, market data and access to capital.
Umar said progress had been recorded through the West Africa Regulators Forum and collaboration with S&P Global Commodity Insights to bring market reporting and benchmark expertise closer to regional transactions and physical product flows.
“A reference price is not by itself a trading hub. A conference is not a market,” Umar said, stressing that credible price discovery required physical infrastructure, commercial liquidity, reliable market information and operational efficiency.
He identified pipelines, storage terminals, jetties, ports, roads, rail networks, strategic reserves and digital trading platforms as critical infrastructure for the proposed market.
Also speaking, Special Adviser to the President on Oil and Gas, Olu Verheijen, said West Africa was not short of energy resources or demand but was constrained by fragmented markets and inadequate infrastructure.
She said Nigeria’s expanding refining capacity and declining dependence on imported petrol presented an opportunity for the country to anchor a more integrated regional petroleum market.
“Refining capacity alone, as big as ours is, does not create energy security,” she said, calling for investments in pipelines, ports, storage facilities, coastal vessels, trucking networks and trading platforms.
Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said rising refining capacity, improved gas supply and increased crude oil production had created an opportunity to integrate the West African petroleum market.
“The West African market must be integrated. We can no longer afford to operate in silos,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vera Blei, Head of Platts at S&P Global Energy, said the company had expanded regional refined-product price assessments and market updates in response to increased volatility.
She said S&P Global was developing additional data and reporting mechanisms for West Africa to improve transparency and support regional price discovery.
Blei disclosed that the benchmark was being developed in naira and other local currencies, adding that S&P Global had opened an office in Abuja.
She urged refiners, traders and other market participants to transact against emerging regional benchmarks to build the liquidity and credibility required for them to become established market references.
