Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is calling on petroleum industry players in Africa to consider partnerships, in building petroleum storage facilities and refineries across the continent.

His call follows the protectionists move adopted by some major oil producing countries and the emergence of the global covid-19 pandemic.

According to the vice president, the establishment of such facilities will help the continent to be self-sufficient in such events when national oil companies may not be able to meet the demand of the continent.

Making the call in his opening address at the virtual petroleum conference hosted by the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributor, Ghana, Dr. Bawumia said “the outbreak of covid-19 and the further protectionist policies by the major oil producing countries is a wakeup call to all of us in Africa that we should collaborate to build assets- petroleum assets like refineries for the continent.

“Sometimes national oil producing companies could not meet the large volumes, but if we collaborate as sector players, there will be a possibility of supplying to the continent” he said. 

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

Meanwhile on his part, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Wamkele Mene said he’s optimistic that the various plans put in place by the African Union to move industrialization to the next level will support major transformation in the petroleum sector of Africa.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Positioning Africa’s petroleum downstream for AfCFTA.