Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Mr Hassan Tampuli has stated Africa needs to take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to create an enabling environment that will provide a transboundary platform for the transportation of petroleum products.

He said this while speaking at the 2021 Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCON) which was held via Zoom.

“We need to take advantage of AfCFTA to have regional engagement towards joint development of transboundary petroleum infrastructure for the transportation of petroleum products in order to benefit from the economies of scale while sharing any associated risk,” he said.

He further stated that “AfCFTA considers the whole African continent to be one big market and that’s quite remarkable. Specifications of fuel across the continent vary widely, there is, therefore, the need to harmonize these specifications to facilitate regional trade and regional integration.”

Meanwhile, the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ADRA) is working closely with the African Union to adopt the Afri-Fuel subscription roadmap for the Continent.

Mr Tampuli said the commitment of all government agencies is needed to achieve this.

However, GhIPCON is designed to actively bring to the fore the petroleum industry’s perspective and guidance on issues of governmental and regulatory policy as well as best practices for the advancement of the industry, not only in Ghana but across the sub-region and beyond.

The Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCON) is Ghana’s foremost Petroleum Downstream Conference where policymakers, industry operatives and experts converge to deliberate on issues of policy and operations as well as share ideas and experiences.