Understanding Retail Models in Africa
To capture the potential that rapid population and GDP growth in Africa provide, oil marketing companies are poised for rapid fuel retail network expansion and operational adjustments to capture the largest possible margin in their fuel and non-fuel offerings.
Across Africa, there are almost as many regulatory models as countries, ranging from light touch regulation in Uganda to central state control in Algeria; but some sort of regulation is common to most countries. In addition, cost and margin allowances can vary widely between countries, as can the level of disaggregation of the ‘retail margin’.
This CITAC Industry Insight examines the main fuel retail models that are currently in place in Africa, analyses their characteristics and provides two case studies – of South Africa and Senegal – to illustrate the similarities and differences between retail models and regulation in different countries.
This CITAC Industry Insight is published in CITAC’s Sub-Saharan Africa Oil Market Report January 2021.