November 17, 2016 [OPIS] - Azerbaijan's Socar is pondering the possibility of supplying oil products to West African Burkina Faso and building relevant infrastructure -- including a terminal at Benin's port of Cotonou -- to facilitate trade, the state-owned company said this week, following a state delegation's visit to both countries.
Landlocked Burkina Faso, which relies on imports for the main sources of energy, is framed to the south by the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin, with the latter neighboring Nigeria.
Existing transhipment facilities at Cotonou include terminals for oil liquids and chemicals at the East Pier (aviation fuel, clean and dirty products) and at the Oryx/Addax terminal (clean, dirty, chemicals), according to data from Market Intelligence Network (MINT), an IHS Markit service.
“[H]igh-level meetings unanimously emphasize the increasing supply of oil and oil products to West African markets and implementation of other energy projects, as well as broad prospects for increasing Azerbaijan’s political influence in the region and Socar[‘s] commercial activity,” the company said in a statement.
Forthcoming talks at Cotonou will include the state’s oil company Sonacop, the group added.
In the LPG segment, Burkina Faso’s annual consumption is seen reaching about 70,000 mt this year, smaller than in Nigeria (430,000 mt), Ghana (293,000 mt) and the Ivory Coast (178,000 mt), but larger than in Benin (65,000 mt) and Togo (20,000 mt), according to initial estimates by commodities trader Vitol, which is active in West Africa. The figures were presented at the OPIS Europe LPG Summit in London in October.
The International Energy Agency’s 2014-dated energy outlook for sub-Saharan Africa had put Burkina Faso’s share of people without access to electricity back in 2012 at over 75%.
