This was one of the primary takeaways from the address by Anibor Kragha, Executive Secretary of ARDA, the African Refiners and Distributors Association, at its 20^th anniversary conference in Cape Town this week.

Kragha emphasised that Africa must strengthen diversity and continuously monitor its supply chains across all energy sources. “Africa’s material strategies rely heavily on maximising natural resources (oil and gas) to fill the immediate energy gap.”

It was at the level of achieving an industrialised continent that he advocated “significant near-term investments across the African downstream value chain – refining, storage and distribution – to address energy deficits”.

Themed Fuelling Africa’s Industrialisation, the conference featured 63 speakers and panellists headed by a total of 10 VIP speakers drawn from the top echelon of the industry.

ARDA President, Marie-Joséphine Sidibé celebrated the two-decade success of the Association in her opening address, emphasising that ARDA was born from a simple but ambitious conviction: to unite Africa’s downstream stakeholders around a shared vision, promote best practice, and create a credible platform able to speak with one voice for the industry, across the continent and beyond.

She recalled the first meeting in March 2006 when the Constitutive Committee of the association met to lay the foundations of what would become the leading voice of Africa’s downstream sector.  “Today, this vision of our founding fathers has never been more relevant,” she said, emphasising that Africa could no longer afford to be a passive observer. “We must anticipate. We must invest. We must secure our energy future and strengthen our energy sovereignty.”

“Africa is rich in natural resources. It holds approximately 30% of the world’s oil reserves and 40% of its natural gas reserves. Yet despite this wealth, our industrial base remains fragile. Too often, we export raw materials and import value-added products.

“This paradox must end. We must strengthen our value chains, modernise logistics infrastructure, secure energy access for all, accelerate more resilient energy systems, and above all, transform our resources into sustainable prosperity for our people.”

During the conference there were consistent themes that emphasised the importance of consolidation and strategy, action and results.

Primary among them was energy security, during almost all the presentations and keynotes. Geopolitical unrest, and especially the disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, were a wake-up call and motivating factor to create secure supplies for African businesses.

On day two of the conference, in line with the call to action, key players representing the upstream and downstream stages of the oil and gas supply chain came together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. Farid Ghazali, Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers Organization (APPO), ARDA President Marie-Josephine Sidibé and Executive Secretary of ARDA Anibor Kragha signed the document, outlining three priority areas of collaboration between APPO and ARDA.

The areas identified by the document are infrastructure regulation and development; technical and financial assistance; and capacity building. Before the signing, Farid Ghazali made a clear statement on the intent of the collaboration: “Our resources should be developed, enriched and used in our countries first and foremost. This is the aim of the document we are signing today.” Anibor Kragha saw the agreement as a way of concretising discussions and negotiations to move the vision forward: “We need to go from words and debate to action.”

As reflected in the terms of the MOU, investment in human capital was a vital point of concern and commitment for many speakers. As Michael Obaseki (Glencore) put it: “We need to build an enabling human capital that can drive us into 2040.”

Speakers were also in agreement that economic development should come before energy transition and the opinion of some was that Africa did not yet have the right infrastructure in place to transition to renewables.

But energy scarcity was the theme that came up in multiple sessions, delegates believing Africa needed energy in all its forms to drive out energy poverty. Investment in LPG was discussed in various contexts.

Making Africa more investible was called for through co-operation from governments to help create an enabling environment. This included creating regulation that will de-risk Africa and lead to more investment, as well as subsidisation to increase affordability of better alternatives.

Among the speakers, Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of Nigeria, said in his keynote speech: “I have always believed that for Africa’s development and progress, we must stop being merely exporters of raw materials and start to add value to enhance what we can get out of our products. For too long, we have shipped crude oil across the oceans, only to import refined products at exorbitant prices. This is not just bad economics; it is bad for development and political economy.” 

“In 2026,” he said, “the imperative for African solutions to African problems has never been stronger. We cannot rely on external players to secure our energy future. We must strengthen our refineries, enhance our distribution networks, and create an interconnected logistical system that serves the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). When we refine our resources within our borders, we create jobs, build capacity, and ensure that maximum wealth stays on the continent.

Co-Founder and Executive Director of SAHARA Group, Tope Shonubi, said: “We need to de-risk Africa to allow finance to come through. We need to be transparent in things we do so we can have access to things we need. We must become people who are recognised as contributors and not parasites.”

Probably the most unequivocal statement to come from the conclave of speakers was Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber NJ Ayuk’s “Never ever are we going to stand down from producing oil. Never are we going to apologise for producing the energy that everyday Africans need for their lives.”