The largest refinery in Africa sits 600 kilometres from Douala by sea. Central Africa imports nearly all its refined fuel. On paper, the match is obvious. In practice, almost nothing has changed.

Since the fire that crippled Cameroon’s SONARA refinery in 2019, the country has imported refined products. Chad refines a modest volume at Djarmaya. Gabon’s Port-Gentil refinery is small. The Central African Republic imports everything, overland. The regional fuel bill is one of the largest single import lines in CEMAC’s balance of payments, and it is paid in dollars.

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery changes the geography of supply. Afreximbank anchored $2.5bn of a $4bn facility for the plant in April 2026, and the refinery has been exporting products beyond Nigeria.

What would have to happen

Buying from Lagos rather than Rotterdam is not only a question of distance.

• Specifications. Each country sets its own fuel standards. Harmonised specifications across CEMAC would make regional supply far simpler.
• Payment. Fuel is bought in dollars. The BEAC’s accession to the pan-African payment system opens the theoretical possibility of settling in local currencies.
• Logistics. Douala, Kribi, Pointe-Noire and Owendo have different draft limits and storage capacities.
• Contracts. State importers and price stabilisation funds decide who supplies. These are political decisions as much as commercial ones.

The competitive question

A regional refinery hub also threatens something: the trading intermediaries who currently supply the region and finance the cargoes, often against future oil. Cheaper, closer fuel would loosen that grip. That is precisely why the story deserves reporting rather than press releases.