By: David Shoombe
Africa’s largest oil refinery, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, recently reported to have sold 12 cargoes of refined petroleum products amounting to 456,000 tonnes to countries such as the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana and Togo. This development shed light on Africa’s ambitions of improving intracontinental trade as global uncertainty lingers.
Nearly a month since the Middle East conflict that led to the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Dangote Refinery has somewhat filled the oil supply gap to accommodate African nations affected by rising oil prices as a result of the conflict. The refinery’s export abilities were made evident when it demonstrated a full production capacity of 650,000 barrels per day in February 2026.
That said, the refinery indicated that it is able to handle local demand in Nigeria and supply the African continent simultaneously. Inaugurated in 2023, with an estimated cost of over $19 billion, Dangote Refinery became the first African refinery to supply refined oil beyond the borders of the continent. In September 2025, it delivered approximately 320,000 barrels of gasoline to Sunoco LP’s terminal in Linden, New Jersey.
Adding onto the Middle East conflict disrupting oil and gas supplies and rising oil prices, real-time updates on African oil prices show that Crude oil rose to US$90.40 per barrel on 24 March 2026, up 2.58% from the previous day. This increment, in turn, also threatens the change in the price of commodities such as food.
Namibian economist Epafras Jonas states that “the Dangote Refinery proves that local supply can improve stability, and that production and trading fuel within Africa reduces transport distance, lowers costs, and protects countries from external shocks.”
Jonas, however, shares that many African countries still struggle to trade with producers like Angola and Nigeria due to limited access to foreign currency, high transport and insurance costs, weak infrastructure, and delays at ports and borders. He also indicated that numerous African countries are held back by their long-term contracts with Middle Eastern suppliers, which make it difficult to shift to African sources, even when they are closer and more efficient. Speaking on the long-term solution, Jonas advised that “Namibia should support planned oil storage initiatives by Dangote to strengthen regional supply and improve fuel security.”
The 2025 Namibia and Nigeria Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation revelaled that the two nations were interested in deeper cooperation in the areas of oil and gas, intensifying their trade relations on that basis.
Earlier this month, NAMCOR stated that despite tensions in the Middle East and concerns of a fuel shortage, Namibia still holds sufficient oil reserves to cater for daily needs while it works on alternatives to add to said reserves.
