Société Pétrolière Rwanda

BB Energy owns a majority stake in Société Pétrolière Ltd (“SP”) in Rwanda, the largest fully integrated oil marketing company in the country. SP is a leading downstream distribution company in Rwanda with a market share of around 35 per cent and selling 220,000 m³ of refined products through its retail network and to leading industrial and commercial customers across the country. It also has sourcing capabilities in Kenya and Tanzania, where it also operates a downstream business. SP opened a service station in Tanzania in August 2023.

SP Rwanda’s business includes:

• 63 retail sites in Rwanda, up from 56 in 2022 and from 48 in 2017. Of the 60 sites, 31 are company owned and operated, with the balance dealer owned.
• The largest wholesale business in Rwanda, supplying industrial and commercial customers.
• Own 50 per cent and operates AMLC the only lubricants blending facility in Rwanda.
• Distribution of Rymax lubricants.
• Heavy Fuel Oil supply contracts to all the power plants in the country.
• A state of the art 63 k m³, ISO certified storage facility.

Under the terms of a two-year public private partnership between SP and the government of Rwanda, SP has now started construction of a 17,100 m³ liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage facility in the capital, Kigali. As part of the project, SP will manage the LPG strategic stocks owned by the Rwandan government, as well as provide safe storage and distribution infrastructure.

The investment in the facility will support the country’s energy security and its energy transition ambitions, ensuring that there is a reliable supply of LPG and thus improving health outcomes by limiting the pollution caused by cooking.

In line with Rwandan Government proposals to start to reduce dependence on petroleum products in the transport sector, the business has started transitioning into cleaner energies with a new partnership being entered into with Ampersand aiming at servicing electric bikes across Rwanda. Not only is SP hosting/renting battery swap stations for electric bikes on forecourts across its retail network, it also invested USD$1 million as part of Ampersand latest funding round.

In 2023, BB Energy also invested in Gasmeth Energy. The company focuses on the responsible extraction, processing, and distribution of naturally occurring methane gas from Lake Kivu, one of the African Great Lakes.

The non-fossil fuel gas extracted from the waters is created by organisms within the lake and would be toxic if left to accumulate. The gas produced is set to be distributed to the local market as compressed natural gas and to replace conventional fuels such as diesel and coal across the country’s transport, industrial, and power generation sectors. This investment forms part of BB Energy’s strategy to provide sustainable and affordable solutions for the energy transition. The project is expected to remove approximately seven million tonnes of greenhouses gases, improving local people’s health, and reducing the country’s pollution.

In addition, Gasmeth will contribute to significantly reduce the import imbalance of the country and therefore the burden on foreign exchange requirements hence further providing economic stability.