The ARA (Association des Raffineurs Africain) constitutive congress , was held in Cape Town (South Africa) in February 2006, with the participation of 36 refiners out of the 39 operative one on the continent.

M. Joël Dervain, from Ivory Cost, the Managing director of the SIR (Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage), were elected unanimously, president of l' association.

Algeria ensures the deputy presidency, by the means of the General President-Director of Naftec (National company of Oil Refining), Mr. Abbelkader Benchouia.

The executive committee chaired by Mr. Dervain includes 9 members coming from the various areas of Africa. the deputy president (Mr. Benchouia), a general secretary, a secretary general-assistant, a general treasurer, a treasurer general-assistant and six directors.

The general secretary and the general treasurer are respectively the chief technical officer of Sonara (Cameroun) and the managing director of Indeni (Zambia). General president-directors, managing directors and directors of the refineries of South Africa, of Nigeria, of Angola, of Libya and Egypt were elected at the other positions.

The objective of the Association of the African refiners is to constitute a crucible of synergy, solidarity and development between its members, through debates and exchanges of ideas and experiments in all the fields of the refining.

The permanent executive committee, annual conference, workgroups and the database are the principal instruments.

The association intends to go further and intend to work in favour of the economic integration of the black continent.

It is necessary to announce that the statutes and the budget of the ARA were adopted during work. In addition, four permanent work groups were made up. They are the groups:

• Technique
• Human resources
• Communication
• Specifications
• Database
• Human resources and Sustainable development

The role of the African Refiners Association is to give a voice to African refiners. ARA's principal aims and objectives are:

• To address economic, environmental and social issues deemed by its membership to impact upon oil refining in Africa, or upon the importing of petroleum products into Africa.
   
• To address issues within the international oil industry which impact on the African oil industry.
   
• To promote the exchange of positive experiences between Members, as well as improve their technical and economic performance.
   
• To improve communication and cooperation between its Members and the international oil market. To achieve this, ARA cooperates with the relevant industry groups, governments, regulatory bodies, international agencies, academic institutions and non-governmental organisations.