{
  "id": 1400694,
  "title": "How to Build $3tn W’African Energy Market",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/how-to-build-3tn-wafrican-energy-market",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-17T02:06:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "This Day",
    "slug": "this-day",
    "url": "https://www.thisdaylive.com/2026/08/17/how-to-build-3tn-wafrican-energy-market/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "West Africa has transitioned from a phase of potential energy resources to a phase of constructing an energy system. Despite possessing significant oil and gas reserves, renewable energy potential, growing electricity demand, a young and rapidly urbanizing population, and strategic access to international markets, the region faces a challenge in converting these resources into sustained economic value, deeper regional trade, greater investment, and improved lives for its people. To achieve this, West Africa must focus on building market architecture rather than individual projects such as refineries, pipelines, power plants, transmission lines, and storage facilities. The region aims to generate at least $3 trillion in cumulative energy market transaction value by 2035. Currently, while regional refined-product demand has grown, only a few countries have meaningful refining capacity. Additionally, despite thousands of kilometers of interconnection infrastructure and existing regional power-market institutions, only a small proportion of electricity is traded across borders. These disparities indicate that the physical system is ahead of the commercial system. To address this, the region should adopt a Hub–Node–Spoke model, transforming West Africa into a single integrated energy market with distributed infrastructure. This model could include Lagos as an Atlantic liquidity and refining hub, Abidjan as a western commercial and logistics hub, Ghana as a central balancing and storage node, and Senegal as a northwestern gateway node. Connecting these hubs with spokes to wider regions could facilitate the movement of energy, capital, and businesses across borders. To facilitate this integration, a WARF Regulatory Passport System could be proposed, enabling companies, traders, and infrastructure operators licensed in one jurisdiction to be recognized across participating jurisdictions, subject to agreed standards and safeguards. This would reduce duplication, shorten transaction times, improve regulatory certainty, and lower costs for businesses operating across borders. Furthermore, harmonizing regulation rather than seeking uniformity would strengthen the region's appeal to international investors.",
  "summary": "Suleiman Yahyah West Africa is no longer in a phase of energy potential. We are in a phase of energy system construction. For decades, the conversation about West Africa’s energy",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}