Africa’s role in energy market growing

Africa’s role in the global energy market was growing, but better regional co-operation was required, a forum at the World Petroleum Congress heard on Tuesday.

“Africa’s economies of scale are too small. We must act regionally, but it’s a major challenge as there are still sovereignty issues,” New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) advisor Reatile Mochebelele said.

He said co-operation through the use of regional oil refineries could save the continent $1.4-billion annually.

Co-operation in the form of the joint importation of petroleum products would also help reduce the shock of oil price spikes on African countries, which imported smaller lots of petroleum products, the executive secretary of the African Petroleum Producers Association (Appa) said.

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