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A Quick Update on West Africa’s Oil Refineries
The most productive oil refineries in West Africa play a crucial economic role, not only in meeting the region’s every-growing energy needs, but also in creating a surplus of refined products for export. The productivity of these refineries is largely influenced by global oil prices, investment levels, upgrades, regulatory controls, geopolitical stability and technological advancements and this varies considerably over time.
In terms of output, the largest refineries in West Africa are the Dangote Refinery, the Port Harcourt Refinery, the Warri Refinery and the Kaduna Refinery (all in Nigeria), the Tema Oil Refinery (Ghana), the Ivory Coast Refinery (SIR), the Senegalese Refineries of Dakar and Rufisque and Sonara Refinery (Cameroon).
During the Covid Pandemic, the face of West African refineries changed dramatically, albeit temporarily. The sudden decline of fuel consumption across the region led to an oversupply of refined products, so many refineries had to halt or reduce their operations. Even though some refiners in Egypt pivoted from being importers to exporters of refined products, they were still affected by the tightened travel restrictions of the time.
Some refineries chose to suspend operations altogether and the stringent travel controls made general planned maintenance work almost impossible to execute. Those refineries undergoing upgrades found it extremely difficult to continue with their plans so most suspended the much-needed works.
Day-to-day problems in staffing levels also came to light immediately, just as they did across the rest of the world. But West Africa experienced severe labour shortages due to the strict protocols put in place to control transmission of the virus.
Refineries did not all come back online at the same time after Covid, and the Port Harcourt refinery (one of the key refineries for NNPC) only resumed operating in November 2024 after over 3 years of down time. Similarly, their refinery in Warri came back online December 2024. The rehabilitation of these refineries was key to Nigeria’s mission to reduce its dependence on imported petroleum products, thus supporting the wider initiative to enhance domestic refining.
Cameroon’s Sonara Limbe refinery has been offline since May 2019 due to a fire incident and reconstruction has not yet commenced, due to funding issues. Once reconstruction works begin, they are programmed to take 12 months.
Hassi Messaoud Refinery Project, Algeria; Whilst Algeria is not strictly in West Africa, such a project may have a significant impact on availability of refined products by intensifying competition leading to potential market shifts. It is also likely to reduce its reliance on imports from other WA countries that currently supply refined products. Hassi Messaoud Refinery is due to come online before the end of 2027. And eventually the world of West African refining will return to a new normal.