Barbara Bako, Abuja
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has intensified efforts to establish a West African petroleum pricing benchmark, saying the initiative will strengthen regional energy security, improve market transparency and reduce the impact of global market disruptions on African economies.
Speaking at a press briefing ahead of the 2026 West African Regulators Forum (WARF) Conference in Abuja on Thursday, the Authority Chief Executive, Mallam Rabiu Abdullahi Umar, said developing a regional pricing benchmark, alongside investments in critical infrastructure, would enable West Africa to build a more resilient and integrated downstream petroleum market.
Responding to questions after the briefing, Umar said the Authority’s immediate priority is to strengthen national and regional energy security by ensuring petroleum products remain available despite global supply shocks.
“What I think we’re working on at the moment is to work on national energy security and that means that no matter what global shock you have, we’re able to have products in the right place at the right price to ensure that we can sustain ourselves for a while given the turbulence we’ve seen in the world.
“It’s not going to go away. So the best thing is to have a very resilient system with the infrastructure to make sure that we have enough at the right time and we have it at the right price and that way we are going to be able to at least sustain and stabilize the market,” Umar said.
According to Umar, strategic investments in infrastructure and petroleum reserves are essential to insulating the region from external market volatility.
“That’s why countries invest in the infrastructure and actually the capital to ensure you have enough reserves in your country and that’s what we’re working on,” he added.
Umar explained that while major petroleum-consuming regions such as Europe and North America operate established pricing benchmarks tailored to their market realities, Africa continues to rely largely on external reference prices despite being a significant producer of oil and gas.
He said a West African benchmark would reflect regional supply, demand and logistics costs, resulting in more transparent and competitive price discovery while supporting cross-border petroleum trade.
Umar noted that increasing refining capacity across Africa would further strengthen the case for a regional benchmark, adding that as the market matures, the pricing reference could eventually be anchored within West Africa.
He identified inadequate infrastructure as one of the biggest obstacles to creating an integrated regional petroleum market, stressing the need for greater investment in pipelines, storage facilities, marine terminals, ports, transport networks and digital trading platforms.
He added that harmonising fuel quality specifications across the sub-region remains a priority, noting that progress is being made through ECOWAS and the Africa Refineries Association to establish common standards that will facilitate seamless cross-border trade.
Umar further noted that increased domestic refining capacity, particularly from the Dangote Refinery, has strengthened product availability in Nigeria while supporting supplies to neighbouring West African countries.
Earlier in the briefing, Umar said the second edition of the West African Regulators Forum Conference, being organised in collaboration with S&P Global Commodity Insights and the West African Regulators Forum, will focus on mobilising investment for infrastructure and distribution systems needed to create transparent regional price benchmarks.
The conference, themed “Funding West Africa Infrastructure & Distribution to Create a Transparent Market for Regional Price Benchmarks,” will bring together regulators, investors, financial institutions and industry leaders to discuss practical solutions for strengthening refining, logistics and regional petroleum trade.
According to Umar, the conference builds on a
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