How Benin organises its fuel supply
Benin has no domestic refinery. Every litre of gasoil, super, kerosene, and LPG sold in the country is imported by sea, through the dedicated petroleum quays at the Port Autonome de Cotonou. From there it moves by a 3 km pipeline to the coastal storage depots of the Dépôts Pétroliers du Bénin (DPB) at Akpakpa, then inland. Part of what comes through Cotonou is not for Benin at all: it is transit cargo for landlocked Burkina Faso and, historically, Mali and Niger.
The current legal framework is Decree 2023-423 of 26 July 2023, which replaced the 2008 decree and split the sector into distinct licensed activities. The decree is published in full by the Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement, the official keeper of Benin's legal texts (source: Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement du Bénin). Day-to-day administration sits with the Direction Générale des Hydrocarbures et des Ressources Énergétiques (DGHE), under the Ministry of Water and Mines (source: Ministère de l'Eau et des Mines du Bénin).
Five licences, one that matters most for a supplier
Decree 2023-423 creates five separate licences (agréments). A company can hold one or several. For a foreign supplier, the one to understand first is the import licence, since it is the gateway to everything else:
The rule that trips people up: holding the import licence does not, by itself, let a company sell that fuel in Benin. The importer must also have won a government tender (become an adjudicataire) for that year. Product brought in outside a won tender can only be for transit or re-export, and even then it needs prior authorisation from the Minister of Commerce (source: Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement du Bénin, Décret 2023-423).
How the annual tender works
For the three essential products, gasoil, super, and LPG, the state organises supply through a single tender each year. It is launched and awarded before the calendar year ends, and the winners hold the exclusive right to import and supply the country for the following twelve months. There is no mid-year re-opening: a company that misses the window waits a full year (source: Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement du Bénin, Décret 2023-423).
Pump prices are set by the government and adjusted through an official pricing mechanism published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which links prices to the tender's reference cost (source: Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances du Bénin, Arrêté sur les prix des produits pétroliers). Only companies already established in Benin, meaning they hold a valid import licence and are registered under Beninese law, can bid. Bids go to a standing committee made up of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and DPB, which acts as permanent secretariat. Submissions are in French only, delivered by hand.
The 2025 tender by the numbers
The most recent tender, covering January to December 2025, split the market into five lots. Figures below come from the tender dossier itself; each volume carries a tolerance of plus or minus 20%.
Across the five lots: roughly 280,000 MT of diesel, 80,000 MT of premium gasoline, and 30,000 MT of LPG for the year. Prices are quoted in euros, CIF Cotonou, per tonne, and stay fixed through the approval period; bidders can also propose a quarterly price tied to a predictive formula. Bids stay valid 30 days from opening, and awarded prices hold until the volumes are fully delivered. The bank guarantees are payable on demand to the Public Treasury and stay valid until 31 March of the following year, covering the full delivery cycle. The awarded contract is exempt from tax and registration duty.
Eligibility is strict by design. A bidder must be an oil company established in Benin, backed by a well-known international oil company as a shareholder or through a firm partnership contract with one. That international partner must have a real West Africa footprint: at least 500,000 tonnes delivered per year across the region, and annual sales above 150 billion FCFA over the last three years. The bidder must also hold, or qualify for, an import licence. The committee is free to pick the bid it judges most competitive on technical and financial grounds, meaning the lowest price does not automatically win, and the government can cancel the tender or declare it unsuccessful if bids fall short.
Product quality standards
The tender requires products to meet the technical specifications appended to the tender document. Two references define what that means. National specifications are maintained as Normes Béninoises by the Agence Nationale de Normalisation, de Métrologie et du Contrôle Qualité (ANM), whose current catalogue is public (source: ANM Bénin, Catalogue des Normes Béninoises). Separately, Benin committed in December 2016, alongside Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, and Côte d'Ivoire, to cap sulfur content in imported diesel and gasoline at 50 ppm, following a UN-convened push after Public Eye's "Dirty Diesel" investigation exposed much higher levels being sold into the region (source: UN Environment Programme, December 2016).
Quality is checked on delivery. Products are inspected at Cotonou by an independent inspector, SGS or Bureau Veritas, at the importer's expense, before being accepted into the DPB system.
What this means for a supplier who is not established in Benin
A foreign company cannot bid in the Beninese tender directly. Bidding is reserved for companies established in Benin. The practical route is a Beninese-registered partner: a joint venture, an agency arrangement, or a supply agreement with a licensed local importer who bids and sources the product from you. The local partner holds the import licence, wins the tender, and legally places the product into the domestic market. You provide the cargo, the logistics chain, and typically the banking instrument that supports the sale.
The port and the delivery corridor
DPB runs the coastal storage at Akpakpa and the pipeline connecting it to the port. Every petroleum import discharges at the dedicated quays of the Port Autonome de Cotonou, whose own operational statistics are published by the port authority (source: Port Autonome de Cotonou). Cargo for landlocked destinations, mainly Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali, continues north by road tanker once customs clearance is done.
For a supplier planning a discharge, DPB sets the operational constraints: berth availability, discharge rate, pipeline capacity to Akpakpa, and available tank space. These are arranged through the appointed port agent and confirmed before the vessel is nominated. The vessel also needs DPB and port approval, ISPS Code compliance, and at least seven working days' notice before the scheduled delivery date. Arranging a discharge without a local agent and without clearing this with DPB in advance is the most common way suppliers end up paying demurrage.
Other ways to do petroleum business in Benin
Two channels exist outside the annual tender. Companies already holding an import licence can supply other products, jet fuel, DDO, specialised heavy fuel oil, bunker fuel, on bilateral terms negotiated directly with their own supplier: letter of credit or advance payment, CIF Cotonou, discharge through DPB and the appointed agent.
The second channel is transit and re-export. Benin's location makes it a natural corridor for product destined for SONABHY in Burkina Faso, and historically Mali and Niger. Product entering under a transit authorisation can clear Cotonou customs on transit terms and continue north by road. The logistics cost, border procedures, and fraud risk on this corridor are where local operational experience matters most.