The prayer for every business entity and individual is to be at the right place at the right time. Though Sahara Energy had been operating in Cameroon for over a decade, it did not hit pay dirt until last year.
Following the sack of the National Refining Company (Sonara) in June 2019 and in order to ensure the stability of the prices of petroleum products, the Cameroonian government called for a bid for quarterly orders (delivery of around 300 million litres of fuel).
Nigeria’s Sahara Energy – owned by the trio of Tonye Cole, Tope Sonubi and Ade Odunsi – won the bid. The partners clinked glasses and backslapped; they were back to the big time after Tonye’s political misadventure in Rivers State.
However, reports reaching The Capital indicate that the company is going headlong with established forces in the country as it is being accused ofpractising prices totally at odds with the current market. But they have the backing of the Cameroonian energy minister, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, who is seeking to force all distributors present in the country to procure their petrol from only Sahara Energy.
The minister is predicating his stance on the fact that Sahara Energy signed a supply deal with the Cameroonian government to meet local demand. However, the shipment of 62,000 cubic metres only arrived on February 29thwhen market prices had slumped after a fall in demand on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sahara landed the contract based on the January price for delivery between February 1stand 20thbut the Nigerian trading company was unwilling to drop its prices, which were about $300 higher per cubic metre than the current market price. Its stance is supported by the energy minister who on April 6theven sent a letter as reportedly seen by influential African business magazine, Africa Intelligence, to all the distributors urging them to purchase the products at the January price.
Africa Intelligence reports that some companies were understood to have caved in to this strong state pressure including Bocom, Camoco and state-owned Green Oil. However, the largest distributors such as Total Cameroun have reportedly yet to procure from Sahara Energy but their complaints at the highest levels have so far fallen on deaf ears. For the last few weeks, they have been selling their existing stock and it appears that they can hold out for another few weeks due to the sharp drop in consumption in Cameroon following the semi-lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.
For big names in the Cameroonian oil and gas industry like Vitol and Mocoh, Sahara’s effective monopoly is preventing them from operating as they have been unable to supply products for several weeks. And, for companies that understand the terrain better than the new entrant, it is obvious they would not just fold their arms and watch Sahara run them out of business.
Today, Sahara Energy is a major employer of labour with a growing portfolio which includes upstream and also maintains a strong physical presence in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal and representative offices in Cameroun, France, and Brazil.
