Botswana is searching for a fuel supply settlement with Aliko Dangote as a part of efforts to diversify its petroleum sources and shield the nation against supply disruptions linked to the Iran conflict.
The nation’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, disclosed this in an interview with Bloomberg in Gaborone, saying Botswana was additionally participating different African suppliers to strengthen fuel safety.
The landlocked southern African nation imports all its refined petroleum merchandise as a result of it has no confirmed crude oil reserves or refineries, leaving it weak to worldwide value will increase and disruptions alongside regional supply routes.
Botswana engages Dangote, Angola on fuel supply
The Iran conflict has disrupted crude shipments and elevated world power costs, prompting African governments to search different fuel provides, together with from Dangote Refinery.
- “Because we are clear that we never want to have any fuel insecurity, we’ve engaged Dangote, we’ve engaged Angola, we’ve engaged Cote d’Ivoire to ensure that they can supply us,” Kenewendo stated.
- “We have diversified our routes to Mozambique and to Namibia, and in order for those routes to work properly, we need to have good storage facilities, coastal storage facilities, in both areas,” she added.
Botswana has already secured a supply association with Oman, with OQ Trading delivering its first diesel cargo for the nation by Mozambique’s Port of Matola on October 9.
The authorities can also be exploring provides by a proposed pipeline that Dangote plans to develop from a terminal at Namibia’s Walvis Bay port by southern Africa.
According to Kenewendo, the choice supply corridors would require enough coastal storage infrastructure to assist fuel distribution and cut back reliance on conventional routes by South Africa.
Dangote Refinery expands African fuel exports
Botswana’s engagement comes as Dangote Refinery expands its presence in African petroleum markets whereas persevering with to supply Nigeria’s home fuel necessities.
The Lagos-based refinery has attracted rising curiosity from African governments searching for to diversify their sources of refined petroleum merchandise following disruptions attributable to the Iran conflict.
- In March 2026, Nairametrics reported that worldwide merchants lifted 12 cargoes containing 456,000 tonnes of refined petroleum merchandise from the refinery for markets together with Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ghana and Togo.
- Earlier that month, Nairametrics reported elevated supply inquiries from African governments, together with South Africa, as international locations sought alternate options to fuel provides affected by the battle.
- In December 2024, the refinery disclosed that it had exported petrol to Cameroon, Angola, Ghana and South Africa, alongside diesel and aviation fuel shipments to European markets.
These developments present that Dangote Refinery’s growth into African markets predates the Iran conflict, though latest supply disruptions have elevated curiosity in its petroleum merchandise.
African governments intensify fuel safety measures
Beyond Botswana’s efforts to safe different suppliers, different African international locations are taking steps to shield home fuel availability as world power costs stay below stress.
The measures vary from restrictions on petroleum exports to elevated home refining, whereas governments face rising prices related to cushioning customers against greater power costs.
In Nigeria, Dangote Group’s H1 2026 Macroeconomic Report revealed that the refinery provided roughly 50 million litres of petrol day by day to the home market in the course of the first half of 2026 whereas increasing exports.
The improve in home refining has helped Nigeria cut back its dependence on imported petroleum merchandise, at the same time as different African international locations search new supply preparations to shield their markets from disruptions.
