Ghana to save $400m from fuel imports from Dangote Refinery

Omeiza Bilal

The Ghana Petroleum Authority has said it is willing to purchase petroleum products from Dangote Refinery once the facility is running at full capacity.

According to them, the move would help reduce the need for more expensive imports from Europe.

Chairman of the National Petroleum Authority of Ghana, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, said at the OTL Africa Downstream oil conference Monday in Lagos added that it would eliminate $400 million spent monthly fuel to imports fuel from Europe.

“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 per cent 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.