Managers of Burkina Faso’s National Hydrocarbons Company (SONABHY) have paid a courtesy call on the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr. Godwin Kudzo Tameklo (Esq), to strengthen cross-border petroleum trade and sub-regional energy security.
The visit on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, followed a recent three-day working visit by the NPA Chief Executive to Burkina Faso, which aimed to boost bilateral collaboration and position Ghana as a hub for regional energy security.
The delegation was led by the Ambassador of Burkina Faso to Ghana, His Excellency David Kabre, alongside the Director General of SONABHY, Aime Wendpanga Nongkouni, and SONABHY’s representative in Ghana, Irenee Yanogo.
Discussions centered on petroleum sourcing, storage, and transport, as well as SONABHY’s ongoing collaboration with the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
H.E. Kabre commended the NPA CEO for his support, noting that since their first engagement, “things have largely improved.”
“I specially want to thank the CEO of NPA for his support, if he doesn’t see me here often, it’s because we don’t have any issues. Since our first meeting, things have largely improved”. H.E Mr Kabre said.
On his part, the Director General of SONABHY, Aime Wendpanga Nongkouni expressed satisfaction with SONABHY’s relationship with the NPA and briefed the CEO on ongoing plans with TOR, including storage arrangements and exploring infrastructure projects in Ghana.
“We are here for two main reasons, the first reason is to thank you for your last visit to Burkina Faso and so we decided to find time and visit you, we are happy with the relationship with the NPA so far, since the visit we have seen a lot of support, and we are very satisfied. The 2nd reason is to inform you about our collaboration and plans with TOR, there are plans to deepen the relationship in terms of storage arrangements, so we met with them to see how we can advance that, and we are satisfied so far with their operations in Ghana”. Mr. Nongkouni said.
Mr. Nongkouni also disclosed Burkina Faso’s intention to build a pipeline from the jetty to the Blue Ocean facility to help increase supply volumes.
“From the last visit, we indicated that our volume sits around 24% and our objective is to get to 50% and our head of state is keen on ensuring that we increase our volumes. As part of the projects we have for Ghana, we are considering building a pipeline from the jetty all the way to the blue ocean facility so that products can be received directly to help increase the volumes, so we will be counting on Ghana and the NPA for support to ensure that this can be done”.
In his response, Mr. Tameklo (Esq.), reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to strengthening relationship with Burkina Faso and emphasized Ghana’s determination to get a larger share of Burkina Faso’s petroleum imports, strengthen bilateral ties and reduce dependence on other countries.
“There is a plan to take reliance from the current 26% to capturing the entire market and I recall in my interaction with the President of Ghana, one of the things I mentioned to him was that, if we get the benefit of giving the 2nd CBM and thankfully the 2nd CBM is going to take Diesel and Petrol at the same time and so the thinking is we may even dedicate the first CBM to SONABHY, so that it will be solely dedicated to SONABHY products, we want to take everything from Cote D’Ivoire and Togo so that it will be a relationship between Ghana and Burkina Faso, we want to strengthen this relationship and take it to a different level. If we do things right, Burkina Faso will rely on us more, than going to look for help elsewhere and the president is happy to work with your new leader, among other things and we want to do everything to deepen the relationship between the two countries”. Mr.Tameklo said.
The NPA Chief Executive further assured that Ghana would continue to explore both short- and long-term solutions, including enhanced transport and potential railway infrastructure to make petroleum product distribution between the two nations more efficient.
“The President was pleased when I told him about your idea that we can use rain instead of the pipeline if we are able to get proper railway infrastructure from Kumasi to Tamale, Tamale to Burkina, it will become easier for us to transport products, so we are looking at both short, medium and long term goals, so be rest assured that we will do everything we can to make your work at SONABHY better.”
SONABHY plays a key role in Burkina Faso’s energy landscape, making the deepening of its collaboration with Ghana critical for ensuring sustainable supply, improving storage facilities, and supporting the broader agenda of regional integration.
The visit reaffirmed the mutual commitment of Ghana and Burkina Faso to strengthen energy cooperation, with both sides pledging to work together to boost cross-border trade, improve infrastructure, and advance sub-regional energy security for the benefit of their citizens.
