- P110 million spent on citizen truckers
- Revenue (2022/23) surges to P2.6 billion, up from P570 million
- Debswana fuel supply contract boosts BOL profit to P99m
The Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme (CEEP) forms the backbone of Botswana Oil Limited (BOL), the company said this week.
The state-owned oil company reiterated that CEEP is a key tool to achieve one of its primary objectives: ensuring meaningful participation of citizens in the oil and gas industry.
“The objective of this programme is to create an inclusive industry and foster fair competition, especially for citizen players,” explained Onkutule Masima, Botswana Oil’s General Manager of Supply.
“We have key enablers that are governing instruments, such as the Economic Inclusion Act (2021), the Botswana Citizen Economic Empowerment Policy, the Public Procurement Act (2021), and the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority Petroleum Products Focused Amendment Act (2022),” Masima added.
According to Masima, through CEEP, Botswana Oil focuses on supply development, including supporting start-ups that aspire to enter the industry. Currently, the company is prioritising three main pillars: road transportation, depot maintenance, and engineering projects.
Botswana Oil has engaged citizen-owned companies for the construction and expansion of its strategic fuel depots across the country, including the Ghanzi fuel storage and Francistown fuel storage facilities.
“Over the past four years, up to the end of the financial year on 31st March 2024, Botswana Oil spent P541.7 million on transportation,” Masima revealed. “But what is staggering is that this year alone, we are already edging closer to what we spent in the last four years.”
As of the financial year ending on 31st March, BOL has already spent P480.5 million, including P110 million allocated to citizen transportation companies.
“When we started, we had 30 citizen trucks; now, we have 130 trucks,” Masima said. “We have opened access to funding by setting up agreements with partner banks, with over P100 million already disbursed.”
BOL has also partnered with Debswana in a strategic collaboration aimed at capacitating citizen-owned companies in the fuel supply value chain. Masima explained that the first step in this partnership was to transfer the transportation of products from foreign companies to citizen-owned ones.
Since 2022, BOL’s spending on citizen transportation companies has surged from P3.2 million to P46.6 million by the third quarter of the current financial year.
Following the award of a 90 percent import mandate for fuel to the national oil company, Masima said BOL has created an enabling environment for citizen truckers to thrive.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, BOL’s revenue surged to P2.6 billion, up from P570 million in the previous year, with a net profit after income tax of P99 million, compared to a net loss of P17.3 million in 2021/2022. This improved performance is primarily attributed to the partnership with Debswana and new contracts secured with International Oil Companies (IOCs).
