Energy Leaders Push for Policy Harmony to Boost Africa’s Oil and Gas Integration
At the 19th Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Africa Downstream Energy Week 2025 in Lagos, regulators and industry leaders across Africa renewed calls for stronger regional collaboration, regulatory harmonisation, and consistent energy policies to unlock the continent’s oil and gas potential. Themed “Energy Sustainability: Growth Beyond Boundaries and Competition,” the event brought together key stakeholders to discuss how fragmented frameworks continue to limit Africa’s competitiveness despite its vast natural resources.
Chairman of the OTL Advisory Board, Adetunji Oyebanji, said the global energy industry is undergoing significant transformation driven by geopolitical shifts and evolving supply chains. He urged African nations to reposition themselves beyond crude oil exports and focus on innovation, efficiency, and value addition within the energy value chain. “Energy sustainability is not merely about preserving resources; it is about ensuring that our growth today does not compromise the prosperity of tomorrow,” he stated, emphasising that policy stability and investor confidence are essential for growth.
Echoing this sentiment, Sierra Leone’s National Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NPRA) Director-General, Brima M. Baluwa Koroma, described the continent’s oil and gas industry as being at a critical crossroads. He warned that without policy harmony, Africa’s diverse regulatory regimes would continue to weaken its collective bargaining power and deter potential investors. Koroma proposed a five-step pathway to integration, including the creation of a harmonised petroleum regulatory framework and the development of shared cross-border infrastructure such as refineries and pipelines.
In support of this, The Gambia’s Director of Petroleum, Musa Njie, said that smaller economies stand to gain significantly from regulatory harmonisation and alignment with ECOWAS energy directives. According to Njie, such integration would not only attract investors but also enhance The Gambia’s potential as a strategic re-export and transit hub within West Africa. He noted that ongoing digitalisation efforts and new certification systems demonstrate The Gambia’s commitment to building a smarter and safer petroleum sector.
Across the continent, stakeholders agreed that regional policy harmonisation, infrastructure development, and human capacity growth are vital to ensuring energy sustainability and competitiveness. While deregulation and subsidy removal have created short-term challenges, experts concluded that these reforms are necessary steps toward creating a transparent, resilient, and future-ready African energy market capable of competing on a global scale.
source: The Guardian