ARDA says African refiners will use a single petrol grade by 2030

By ABUBAKAR YUNUSA

The Executive Secretary of the African Refiners and Distributors (ARDA), Anibor Kragha has said that all African refiners will need to use one single petrol (gasoline) grade by 2030.
He said this during the recently concluded World Petroleum Congress (WPC) held in Calgary, Canada.
According to him, ARDA is working on the adoption of a harmonized pan–African clean petrol specification, particularly Afri 6 or 10 per of gas per million parts of air(ppm) specification for fuel across Africa.
“In Africa we have 11 different grades of diesel or gas oil engine from 10 ppm to 10,000 ppm and for gasoline (petrol), we have 12 different grades ranging from 10ppm to 2,500 ppm. So that initiative is to have a single 10ppm grade by 2030 across Africa.”
According to Kragha, a fundamental objective of the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) is to spearhead investments across the extensive downstream value chain.
The focus is firmly on bolstering Africa’s energy security by optimizing the utilization of African crude oil within African refineries and facilitating the transportation of cleaner fuels through an integrated storage and distribution infrastructure across the continent.
Addressing the predicament of Africa’s limited refining capacity, which strains its foreign exchange due to substantial imports of petroleum products, Kragha emphasized that ARDA remains committed to promoting and facilitating heightened investments in refining capacity across the African landscape.
This strategic approach seeks to ensure that the escalating demand for petroleum products within the continent is adequately met with cleaner fuels, thus mitigating the foreign exchange burden.
He underscored the promising outlook for the African refining and petrochemicals sector in the coming decades. This optimistic perspective is grounded in the convergence of two critical factors: a significant surge in energy demand and substantial population growth anticipated across the continent during this period.