Africa’s downstream oil industry concluded its most significant annual gathering in Cape Town on Thursday, with key continental bodies signing a formal partnership agreement and a near-unanimous call for industrialisation to take precedence over energy transition as geopolitical shocks expose the continent’s supply vulnerabilities.
The 20th anniversary conference of the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA), held under the theme “Fuelling Africa’s Industrialisation,” brought together 63 speakers and panellists over five days at the Century City Conference Centre, producing concrete commitments alongside urgent warnings about Africa’s energy future.
MOU Seals Downstream Alliance
The most consequential outcome of the week was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between ARDA and the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO) on the second day of the conference. ARDA President Marie-Josephine Sidibe, ARDA Executive Secretary Anibor Kragha, and APPO Secretary General Farid Ghazali signed the document, committing both bodies to collaboration across three priority areas: infrastructure regulation and development; technical and financial assistance; and capacity building.
Ghazali stated that the intent of the agreement was to ensure that Africa’s resources are developed and utilised on the continent first. Kragha framed it as a shift from deliberation to execution, saying the industry must move from words and debate to action.
Energy Security Dominates Discussions
Energy security emerged as the defining thread running through virtually every session, sharpened by the disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Iran conflict. Kragha told delegates that geopolitics has become the primary driver of international product markets, making energy security more unstable than at any previous point. He called for Africa to prioritise industrial development over energy transition, while simultaneously diversifying and monitoring supply chains across all energy sources.
Kragha called for substantial near-term investment across the African downstream value chain, spanning refining, storage, and distribution, to address energy deficits that continue to hold back industrial growth.
ARDA President Sidibe, marking the association’s founding from a constitutive committee meeting in March 2006, said Africa can no longer afford to be a passive observer in shaping its own energy future. She pointed to a structural paradox at the heart of the continent’s economic challenge: Africa holds approximately 30 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 40 percent of its natural gas reserves, yet continues to export raw materials and import value-added products at high cost.
Obasanjo and Industry Voices Demand Value Retention
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, speaking in a keynote address, called for Africa to stop exporting crude oil only to reimport refined products at significant cost. He argued that strengthening refineries, enhancing distribution networks, and building a logistics system aligned with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would create jobs, build capacity, and retain wealth on the continent.
Tope Shonubi, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sahara Group, called on Africa to become more transparent and investible to attract the financing needed to build the sector. NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber (AEC), delivered the conference’s most unequivocal statement on hydrocarbons, declaring that Africa will never stand down from producing the oil that ordinary Africans depend on daily.
Speakers were broadly aligned that economic development must come before energy transition, with several arguing that the continent does not yet have the infrastructure required for a meaningful shift to renewables. Energy scarcity and investment in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) featured prominently across multiple sessions as practical near-term priorities.
Michael Obaseki of Glencore underscored the human capital dimension, saying Africa needs to build the enabling workforce that can drive the sector to 2040.
