Ivory Coast is one of the first of the smaller African countries to take advantage of the opportunities being created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), according to African affairs specialist François Baird.Writing for Geopolitical Intelligence Services, he says Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) has emerged as a trade hub in West Africa by importing crude oil from Nigeria, refining it, and then exporting the refined products to neighbouring Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali.Refining is controlled by the state-owned SIR (Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage), which is in the process of doubling capacity through an agreement with US-based Yaatra Ventures to build a second refinery. The agreement was signed in May. The planned refinery will process 170 000 barrels a day and cost over $5.1 billion, said Raphael Souanga, director of development and energy transition at SIR, at a recent conference held in Cape Town.The existing 100 000-barrels-a-day refinery is reportedly one of the most efficient in sub-Saharan Africa.In May, the Ivorian government signed two other memorandums of understandingwith American companies – the operation of oil blocks for the parastatal Petroci in partnershipwith Valco Energy Systems; and with Sun Africa to help raise $1.3 billion for the development of renewable energy and the optimisation of the national electricity grid.ER
