Upon the completion of Dangote Refinery which is the world’s largest refinery in a single production, it is expected to drive down the price of fuel in Ghana and other West African countries. Dangote Refinery is being built in Lagos Free Trade Zone (LFZ) in Nigeria.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) of Ghana, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the completion of the Dangote Refinery and its subsequent commencement of operation will be a breakthrough for the West African region.
Investors King understands that most West African countries including Nigeria with a large deposit of crude oil import fuel from Europe.
While speaking at the 16th Oil Trading and Logistics Expo in Lagos, Abdul-Hamid noted that the oil downstream sector in Ghana is completely deregulated which makes it free from oil subsidy.
He noted that in a capitalist economy where fuel importers would want to make substantial profits from their cost of spending, importing from Nigeria which is a neighbouring country to Ghana will be cost-effective and cheaper than importing from far away Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Currently, the West African country gets a substantial part of its fuel from the Netherlands.
“As we all know, the price builds up for a litre of fuel will include the cost of shipment, transportation, insurance, and others, but if we are importing from Nigeria into Ghana, this will bring down the cost of fuel in our country,” he stated.
He also added that the Government of Ghana is building a $60 billion petroleum hub on 20,000 acres of land for storage and marine facilities.
The mega oil storage facility which was first announced in 2018 will supply several countries in Africa. The project which is located in Bonyere is expected to be completed in 2030.
Meanwhile, Dangote Refinery intends to raise another trench of bonds to hasten the completion of the refinery. In July 2022, the company raised N187.6 billion under Dangote Industries Limited (DIL).
The second trench of the bond will make it a total of N300 billion which the company had disclosed it will raise from the public to help finance the landmark oil project which is due for commencement of operation by early 2023.