Regulators urged to adopt real-time petroleum intelligence

Petroleum regulators across West Africa have been urged to embrace digital market intelligence platforms to improve transparency, price discovery and access to real-time information in the downstream oil market.

The Chief Executive Officer of Petroleumprice.ng, Jeremiah Olatide, made the call at the Owari Executive Market Intelligence Forum 2026 held in Lagos on Tuesday, where industry stakeholders discussed the role of data, technology and collaboration in improving petroleum trading across West Africa.

Olatide said digital market intelligence had become increasingly important as traders and other industry participants needed timely and reliable information to make commercial decisions.

He explained that the petroleum market required accurate and timely information because misinformation could have significant financial consequences for traders and other market participants.

“I think the regulators should be able to encourage digital market intelligence platforms as a driver. And because it is a market for us, we have quite a lot of traders who depend on what we have daily, because we realise that one piece of misinformation costs them a lot,” Olatide said.

According to him, digital platforms could help address the lack of transparency and real-time information in the petroleum market by bringing together data that traders could use in their day-to-day operations.

He said the need for digital market intelligence was particularly important as the petroleum market continued to evolve, with participants requiring a better understanding of prices and the factors driving them.

He added that market intelligence platforms should not merely provide raw figures but should help users interpret the information and understand the factors behind petroleum prices.

Olatide noted that while domestic petroleum prices were denominated in naira, wholesale transactions were linked to dollar-denominated costs, making proper interpretation of market data important for traders.

“So we understand that country prices, because of the CBN Act in Nigeria, are in naira, but wholesale prices are priced in dollars,” he said.

He said platforms such as Owari could therefore help market participants understand the factors behind petroleum prices, including elements affecting landing and refining costs.

“Why we have platforms like Owari is for interpretation, to help you understand why prices are what they are, looking at those factors that make up either the landing cost or the refining cost. So I think a platform like ours is bringing clarity to how traders make informed decisions,” he added.

The Owari forum brought together professionals involved in petroleum trading, market intelligence, commodities and downstream operations, with discussions focusing on the growing need for reliable market information across West Africa.

Speaking during his opening remarks, the founder of Owari, Joe Leigh, said the platform was created to address the difficulty of obtaining reliable information on developments in coastal West African petroleum markets.

Leigh, a physical oil broker, said information on the market was available but scattered across different sources, making it difficult for traders and other industry participants to access it quickly.

“The data is available, but it’s scattered. And so we thought something needs to be done to centralise this data, and this is the result of that centralisation of data that you see,” he said.

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He said Owari provides information covering different aspects of physical oil trading, including prices and stock levels, while also generating data that can be applied to trading decisions.

The platform, he said, was designed for traders, operators, regulators, ship owners and ship brokers operating in West African markets. “There’ll be data on this platform that everybody can use to trade more efficiently and effectively in West African markets,” Leigh said.

Also speaking at the forum, a trading manager at Ardova Plc, Oluwatobi Jimoh, said access to real-time stock information would help petroleum traders identify opportunities and make better decisions.

Jimoh said traders need information on product stock levels at different locations to determine where cargoes could be moved without making unnecessary commitments. “I think one thing we want to see is stock levels across various regions,” he said.

He explained that better visibility of stock levels in locations such as Bonny and other West African markets would enable traders to understand available supplies before committing cargoes.

He also called for greater infrastructure integration across the region, particularly pipelines linking ports and landlocked markets, saying the cost of trucking petroleum products could make otherwise viable trading opportunities uneconomic.

Jimoh noted that there was a significant difference between the economics of moving petroleum products by pipeline and by road.

“If you look at some other regions across the world, this is what they have done. They have found a way to integrate where landlocked countries that are close to a country that has a port have built pipelines,” he said.

He cited regional trading hubs as an example of how infrastructure and market integration could improve petroleum trade. On who should drive policy and market intelligence development, Jimoh stressed the need for collaboration among regulators, market participants and data providers.

“Owari can create a lot of info, but we have to use the info. We have to also still supply Owari with the information. So it has to be a 360 collaboration,” he said.

Meanwhile, Matthew Dowty of Marex said data was one of three key pillars required for effective trading, alongside networks and risk management.

He said access to timely market data could provide traders with an advantage by allowing them to analyse market developments and identify opportunities, but warned that data alone was insufficient without appropriate risk management.

“Data is absolutely key,” Dowty said, adding that market intelligence platforms could provide price discovery, live data and stock levels to help traders analyse market opportunities.

He maintained that risk management should extend beyond hedging to include financing, credit arrangements, banking relationships and supplier relationships.

Dowty also backed efforts to strengthen price discovery across African markets, saying the development of regional benchmarks and live market curves could help improve pricing transparency.

The discussions underscored the growing importance of digital market intelligence as petroleum trading becomes increasingly interconnected across Nigeria and the wider West African market.