Roadmap

Roadmap for Developing a West Africa Refined Products Price Reference Market

Proposed roadmap from the NMDPRA and S&P Global Commodity Insights conference.

24 July 2025 | West Africa Refined Products Market Roadmap

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and S&P Global Commodity Insights held a conference on 22-23 July 2025 and issued a communique. To deliver that communique, NMDPRA and conference participants produced the roadmap below.

Official Report

For the official source material, please access the S&P Global Commodity Insights report directly.

1) Refining Capacity and Supply Reliability

Stabilize regional refining capacity and secure predictable supply for West Africa.

• Ensure refineries operate consistently at optimal yields to meet regional demand.
• Enable transnational agreements to stabilize supply and position Nigeria as a regional export hub for gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and LPG.
• Strengthen regional collaboration among refiners (Ghana: Tema and Sentuo; Senegal: SAR; Cote d'Ivoire: SIR).
• Address the current imbalance where the region refines only a portion of its crude and imports large volumes of refined products.
• Harmonize market frameworks, regulatory policies, and incentives to attract new refinery investments.
• Align tariff methodologies and cost-recovery pricing for midstream and refining operations.
• Protect domestic refiners from unfair international competition and dismantle enabling structures.
• Streamline crude transport payments and address excessive port charges to improve feedstock logistics.

2) Logistics, Storage, and Network Excellence

Modernize logistics networks and expand storage to support a liquid regional market.

• Integrate deep-water ports (such as Lekki) with inland road, rail, and pipeline corridors.
• Advance the ECOWAS Abidjan-Lagos six-lane corridor to unlock cross-border trade flows.
• Develop strategic storage and interconnected pipelines to enable regional stock hubs.
• Harmonize tariffs for bulk storage and align cost references to market realities.
• Mobilize regional financing instruments (AFC, Afreximbank, AEB, DFIs, and private investors) for infrastructure gaps.
• Promote regional FX alignment for international refined product trade.
• Publish infrastructure development updates within S&P Global market reporting.

3) Regulatory Alignment and Best Practices

Standardize product quality and regulatory practices across West Africa.

• Create a West Africa petroleum regulators forum to harmonize strategies.
• Adopt uniform specifications and quality standards aligned with decarbonization goals.
• Strengthen inter-regulator information sharing, skills exchange, and joint oversight.
• Deploy digital product tracking for supply and demand forecasting.
• Standardize data transparency, audit systems, and integrity mechanisms region-wide.

4) Pricing Benchmarks and Reference Indices

Build a transparent and liquid market to establish trusted price benchmarks.

• Encourage independent, verifiable price assessments to support FOB West Africa trade.
• Reinforce Lagos as a key hub within the West Africa FOB pricing ecosystem.
• Collect tariff and macroeconomic data from licensed refiners via regulators.
• Monitor pricing frameworks and market behavior across the region.
• Engage financial sector stakeholders to build financing ecosystems for storage and logistics.
• Publish and expand price assessments for FOB West Africa gasoline and low-sulfur diesel, with additional products under development.
• Increase confidence in assessments through verified data and market-on-close processes.
• Align Platts methodology with evolving specifications and trading flows, and explore derivatives linked to benchmark indices.