— S&P Global urges market participation

By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

The Federal Government has backed the establishment of a regional petrol pricing benchmark for West Africa, saying the initiative would 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, investors and other industry stakeholders discussed the development of a regional petroleum pricing and trading hub.

Lokpobiri said Nigeria’s decision to deregulate the downstream petroleum sector was aimed at unlocking investment and allowing market forces to play a greater role in determining petroleum prices.

He said the country’s expanding refining capacity and strategic position in Africa placed Nigeria in a strong position to support the emergence of a more integrated West African petroleum market.

The minister, however, stressed that Nigeria could not achieve the objective alone, urging 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 succeed,” he said.

According to him, the regional market should enable countries to maximise their respective advantages, facilitate investment and reduce dependence on pricing structures determined outside Africa.

Lokpobiri said Nigeria was committed to supporting the initiative and attracting investment into refining and the broader downstream petroleum value chain.

From roadmap to execution

Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Rabiu Umar, said the 2026 conference marked a transition from developing a roadmap to implementing it.

He said the inaugural conference in 2025 laid the foundation for a West African refined-products reference market, with emphasis on refining capacity, logistics, storage, infrastructure, regulatory cooperation, market data and access to capital.

Umar said progress had been recorded a year later, particularly 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.

He cautioned, however, that a benchmark could not exist in isolation.

“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 said West Africa must develop the infrastructure required to move petroleum products efficiently from refineries to storage facilities, terminals and ports, and ultimately across borders to demand centres.

According to him, the infrastructure requirements include refineries, pipelines, storage terminals, jetties, ports, roads, rail networks, marine logistics, strategic reserves and digital trading platforms.

Umar described the region’s infrastructure deficit as an opportunity for investors, identifying pipelines, product transportation systems, storage facilities, marine terminals, refinery expansion and optimisation, road and rail logistics, gas infrastructure, digital commodity exchanges and trading platforms as potential areas for investment.

He said capital would only flow into projects that were bankable, supported by predictable regulations and capable of delivering sustainable returns.

“For investors, predictability matters. For operators, efficiency matters. For consumers, affordability and reliability matter. For regulators, safety, integrity, competition and compliance matter,” he said.

The NMDPRA chief also called for greater operational efficiency, particularly at ports and terminals, saying delays, demurrage, transportation costs and inefficient infrastructure could undermine the competitiveness of the regional market.

He identified five priorities for the next phase of the initiative: deepening physical market liquidity, financing strategic infrastructure, harmonising regulations and product standards, institutionalising market transparency and building a complete trading ecosystem.

Such an ecosystem, he said, must include refiners, traders, terminal operators, ship owners, marketers, banks, insurers, commodity exchanges, data providers and regulators.

Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, 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 growing refining capacity and declining dependence on imported petrol had created an opportunity for the country to serve as an anchor for a more integrated regional petroleum market.

“Refining capacity alone, as big as ours is, does not create energy security,” she said.

Verheijen said refined products must be financed, stored, transported and distributed efficiently before they could deliver their full economic value.

She called for investment in pipelines, ports, storage facilities, coastal vessels, trucking networks and trading platforms, as well as common product standards and stronger cooperation among regional regulators.

She said the ambition should be for petroleum products refined in West Africa to be traded and priced within the region instead of leaving the continent before their value is determined.

On her part, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said developments across Nigeria’s oil and gas value chain had created an opportunity to complete the integration of West Africa’s petroleum market.

She cited rising refining capacity, improved gas supply and increased crude oil production as major developments that could support the regional initiative.

Eyesan said West African countries must move away from operating in isolated national markets.

“The West African market must be integrated. We can no longer afford to operate in silos,” she said.

She called for integrated regulatory systems and infrastructure capable of connecting producers, refiners, traders and consumers across the sub-region.

S&P Global urges market participation

In her remarks, Vera Blei, Head of Platts, S&P Global Energy, said the company had expanded its regional refined-product price assessments and increased the frequency of market updates in response to heightened market volatility.

She said S&P Global was also developing additional data and reporting mechanisms for West Africa to improve transparency and support regional price discovery.

Blei disclosed that the pricing benchmark was being developed in naira and other local currencies in the West African sub-region, adding that the company had opened an office in Abuja to facilitate its operations.

She, however, stressed that while regulators and price-reporting agencies could provide the foundations, market participants would ultimately have to create a liquid and credible benchmark through actual transactions.

She urged refiners, traders and other market participants to use and transact against emerging regional benchmarks if they wanted them to become established references.