Ghana to buy Dangote Petrol to reduce $400m monthly import expenditure

Ghana has said it plans to buy petroleum products from Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery to cut down on import expenditure.

Reuters reports that Chairman of the National Petroleum Authority, Ghana, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, disclosed this on Monday at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos.

The head of Ghana’s Petroleum Regulatory Body, Abdul-Hamid, said the plan to purchase Dangote Petroleum Products could end monthly fuel imports from Europe, which stood at $400 million.

According to him, it will be easier to buy Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) from Dangote Refinery than import from Rotterdam.

He expected that the move, when implemented, would help bring down the prices of petrol in Ghana.

“If the refinery reaches 650,000 barrels per 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.

This comes as Dangote Refinery commenced distribution of petrol on September 15, 2024, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited as the sole off-taker.

However, despite moves by domestic petroleum marketers to buy directly from Dangote Refinery, much has not been seen of the partnership as Nigerians grapple with the petrol price hike, which stood at over N1,030 per litre.