Nigeria and other West African countries are stepping up efforts to create a more integrated regional energy market, with regulators seeking to reduce the region’s exposure to unpredictable global oil and petroleum product prices. The initiative, led by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the West Africa Regulator Forum (WARF), is focused on building a market where local supply, demand and infrastructure can play a greater role in determining energy prices.
Speaking at the WARF conference in Abuja, NMDPRA Chief Executive Rabiu Umar said West Africa has the resources, consumers and growing refining capacity needed to build a stronger energy market, but the region still lacks the infrastructure to connect them effectively. He called for greater investment in cross-border pipelines, storage facilities, ports, refineries, rail and road networks, marine logistics and digital trading platforms. According to him, infrastructure should be developed with regional needs in mind rather than forcing every country to build identical facilities.
A major part of the proposal is the development of a localised West African pricing system that could help protect consumers and businesses from price movements driven by events far outside the continent. Umar argued that problems in Western Europe or the Mediterranean should not automatically determine energy prices in Africa when local market conditions are different. Harmonising regulations and product standards across West Africa, he said, would also make cross-border energy trade easier, safer and more predictable.
The push comes as Nigeria’s oil and gas industry undergoes significant changes, including rising refining activity and improvements in crude production. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), said Nigeria is moving beyond simply meeting domestic refining needs and is increasingly looking toward exports. She stressed that achieving a sustainable regional pricing system would require West African crude markets to stop operating independently and become more closely integrated.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, meanwhile, called for more investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, particularly in the midstream and downstream segments. He said existing refining capacity is still insufficient to fully meet demand, despite the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery. For West Africa, the proposed unified energy market could represent more than a pricing reform—it could create stronger regional energy security, encourage investment and help the continent rely more on its own resources rather than being overly exposed to shocks from international markets.
source: Business day
