Led by CITAC Africa’s Executive Director Elitsa Georgieva, the workshop showcased how major refining projects across the continent are driving a positive outlook for both the sector and trading environment. Specifically, east and southern Africa are expected to show oil and gas demand growth of over 2.9% in 2024, while west and central Africa are expected to grow by 1.4%.

“The region is an integral part of the oil and gas industry,” Georgieva stated, adding, “African oil demand growth has been very strong over the last couple of decades, doubling since the 2000’s in terms of volume.”

It was noted during the session that Africa’s oil and gas are expected to experience a year-on-year refinement growth of 1.7 million tons, with Nigeria forecast to have a gasoil surplus of 2.8 million tons by 2026. The presentation also focused on Angola’s refining capacity, with the country poised to boost energy security through the development of three new refineries – Cabinda, Lobito and Soyo – increasing capacity to 400,000 barrels per day (BPD). Upgrades to the country’s sole operational refinery, the Luanda Refinery, represents another major boost to Angola’s downstream sector.

While the continent’s refinery throughput dropped as low as 365,000 BPD in Q3 2023, sub-Saharan Africa’s refining sector is currently witnessing a strong rebound, according to Georgieva. Oil product imports across the continent have increased by 60% over the past decade, while clean products net shortfall is expected to narrow substantially from 78.4 million tons in 2023 to 55.9 million tons in 2026.

Meanwhile, efforts to maximize the development of oil and gas resources have led to a new wave of downstream developments in Africa’s largest producing markets. In July, Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery began talks with the governments of Angola and Libya to secure a stable supply of crude oil for its 650,000-BPD processing plant.

In an effort to drive South Sudan’s downstream capabilities, the country’s national oil company Nilepet is calling on investors to secure funding for the completion of an oil refinery in Block 5A. The proposed refinery is expected to double the country’s oil production to 350,000 BPD, while catering heavy fuel oil to potential markets in Kenya, Uganda and the Republic of the Congo.