The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has declared that the time has come for West Africa to determine the price of its petroleum products, arguing that it is no longer sustainable for a region rich in crude oil and gas to depend on pricing benchmarks set outside the continent.
The Authority Chief Executive Rabiu Umar made the declaration on Thursday in Abuja while briefing journalists ahead of the second West Africa Refined Fuel Conference slated for August 2026.
Umar said the conference would drive efforts to establish a transparent and credible regional petroleum products pricing benchmark capable of reflecting West Africa’s market realities rather than relying on foreign price references.
He said: “The vision is to establish West Africa as a credible regional marketplace where petroleum products can be traded efficiently, transparently and competitively.”
The ACE noted that despite Africa’s enormous oil and gas resources, pricing for a large proportion of its petroleum commodities is still determined outside the continent, a situation he described as inconsistent with the region’s growing refining capacity and market potential.
The conference, organised by the NMDPRA in collaboration with S&P Global Commodity Insights and the West Africa Regulators Forum, is themed: “Funding West Africa Infrastructure and Distribution to Create a Transparent Market for Regional Price Benchmarks.”
According to Umar, the gathering will bring together regulators, investors, financial institutions and industry players to identify practical financing models for critical infrastructure needed to support transparent pricing, efficient trading and deeper regional integration.
He said discussions would centre on
investments in pipelines, storage depots, marine terminals, ports, rail networks, refineries and digital commodity trading platforms, all of which are essential for reducing logistics costs, strengthening energy security and boosting cross-border petroleum trade.
Umar also highlighted opportunities for private investment in gas processing, transportation, liquefaction, compression, strategic petroleum reserves and LNG infrastructure.
Reflecting on the gains from the inaugural conference held in July 2025, the NMDPRA boss said it led to the establishment of the West Africa Regulators Forum, publication of West African reference prices and the opening of S&P Global Commodity Insights’ regional office in Abuja.
He stressed that reliable market data would remain indispensable for transparent pricing, sound investment decisions and evidence-based regulation across the region.
Defending the campaign for a regional pricing benchmark, Umar said every major energy market in the world operates a pricing index tailored to its own market conditions.
He explained that regional benchmarks better reflect local supply and demand dynamics, transportation costs and logistics than international reference prices.
According to him, Europe relies on the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp trading hub as a major pricing reference, adding that West Africa should establish a similar system as refining activities continue to expand.
“The more we are able to produce, the more relevant it becomes to have our own reference pricing,” he stated.
Umar further described infrastructure as the backbone of regional energy integration, noting that efficient movement of petroleum products across borders would remain difficult without adequate pipelines, ports and storage facilities.
He cited the West African Gas Pipeline as a practical example of infrastructure enabling Nigerian gas to reach neighbouring countries and called for similar investments across the downstream petroleum value chain.
The NMDPRA chief also advocated harmonisation of petroleum product specifications across African countries to eliminate trade barriers, saying engagements involving regional stakeholders and the Africa Refiners Association had already recorded significant progress towards standardising fuel quality.
On concerns over fuel quality, Umar maintained that petroleum products supplied from Nigeria meet internationally acceptable standards.
According to him, Nigeria no longer produces petroleum products with sulphur content above 50 parts per million (ppm), while increased local refining has strengthened domestic supply and expanded exports to neighbouring African markets.
He added that regional petroleum market integration would continue to deepen as infrastructure improves and collaboration among African countries grows.
