West African petroleum regulators have called for common fuel standards, improved storage facilities and stronger cooperation among countries to boost the trade of petroleum products across the region.
The regulators from Nigeria, Ghana and The Gambia made the call at the ongoing 20th OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week in Lagos.
They warned that differences in fuel standards, inadequate storage facilities and limited laboratory testing could make it difficult for countries to trade petroleum products across their borders.
The Authority Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Rabiu Umar, said differences in fuel specifications across countries made it difficult to compare products and ensure fair competition.
Umar pointed to the differences in diesel standards, which range from 50 parts per million (ppm) to 1,500 ppm of sulphur in some markets. He said the differences made it difficult to establish common standards across West Africa.
He called for common fuel specifications and coordinated production rules to make trade easier and encourage competition. He also proposed a West African reference price for petroleum products to strengthen trade among African producers.
Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority Chief Executive Officer, Godwin Tameklo, identified poor infrastructure as another challenge facing regional petroleum trade.
Tameklo said some ports and storage facilities in Ghana could not handle the volumes delivered by larger vessels. This sometimes forced operators to use smaller shipments or make alternative arrangements.
He urged West African countries to address infrastructure gaps and differences in regulations. He also called for clear deadlines to ensure that plans to harmonise fuel standards were implemented.
Similarly, the Director of Water, Petroleum and Electricity at The Gambia’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Musa Njie, said the country lacked a laboratory for testing petroleum products.
Njie stressed the need for better testing facilities to ensure that fuel products meet quality standards. He said common standards would help protect public health and the environment while improving trade.
He also called for better cooperation between regional bodies and national regulators to ensure that agreed standards were properly implemented.
The call for stronger regional cooperation comes as Nigeria records a major change in its petroleum supply, with exports increasing and imports declining.
Figures presented by the Group Executive Chairman of Rainoil Limited, Dr Gabriel Ogbechie, showed that Nigeria’s refined petroleum product exports reached about 55 million litres daily in the second quarter of 2026, while imports fell below 20 million litres daily.
According to the presentation, export earnings from refined petroleum products rose to $3.94 billion, representing a 148 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2025.
The presentation also showed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery supplied 71 per cent of the petrol received in the domestic market in August 2026.
Ogbechie said Nigeria’s petroleum sector was moving away from dependence on imported fuel towards domestic refining and exports.
He noted that Nigeria’s four state-owned refineries, with a combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, operated at an average of just seven per cent of their capacity in 2020.
The Dangote refinery began operations in 2024, following the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023.
However, the presentation showed that daily petrol consumption dropped from 60.2 million litres in January 2026 to 41.5 million litres in August.
Petrol accounted for 72 per cent of Nigeria’s combined fuel consumption during the period.