Reducing Africa’s $120bn Hydrocarbon Import Cost Needs Regional Unity – Lokporibi

The curate of authorities for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, has emphasised that determination integration and harmonisation of standards stay cardinal to reducing Africa’s $120 cardinal yearly hydrocarbon import bill.

Speaking astatine the Africa Oil Week (AOW) 2025 Ministerial and CEO Leadership Forum, Lokpobiri reaffirmed Nigeria’s enactment relation successful advancing the continent’s vigor information and called for deeper determination integration among African countries to tackle the continent’s vigor challenges.

Lokpobiri stressed that integration remains the astir effectual strategy to extremity Africa’s vigor poverty, noting that shared infrastructure, harmonised standards, and method expertise volition alteration the continent to unafraid its vigor future.

He highlighted Africa’s dense reliance connected imports, revealing that the continent spends implicit $120 cardinal annually connected hydrocarbon imports. “This is superior flight. These funds should stay wrong Africa to substance our ain improvement priorities,” the Minister stated.

According to him, the existent situation is not entree to superior but the deficiency of aligned regulatory frameworks and fiscal regimes.

He stressed that investors question stableness and predictability, truthful African countries indispensable align their policies to pull semipermanent investment.

“Investors marque semipermanent decisions based connected stableness and predictability. Africa indispensable harmonise its policies to pull and clasp investment,” helium said.

As portion of Nigeria’s enactment drive, Sen. Lokpobiri announced the instauration of a West African Reference Market (WARM)—an inaugural to leverage Nigeria’s increasing refining capableness to proviso petroleum products crossed West Africa and beyond.

On the planetary vigor transition, helium clarified that the Paris Agreement does not necessitate abandoning fossil fuels, but alternatively a simplification successful emissions. “Africa contributes lone 3 per cent of planetary CO₂. We cannot pb an vigor modulation erstwhile we don’t adjacent person energy. Our precedence indispensable beryllium to responsibly harness our abundant resources to powerfulness growth,” helium added.

Sen. Lokpobiri urged African nations to unite astir a shared purpose: “Africa has the market, the population, and the resources. We request to support worth wrong our continent and concern our ain vigor future.”