Our attention has been drawn to several misleading media reports and apparently sponsored false commentary on the ongoing contract between Sahara Energy and Société Nationale de Petroles (SONAP) for the supply of petroleum products to the Republic of Guinea.
Please find some links below to the said publications:
https://africacenter.org/spotlight/stagnant-transition-guinea/
Sahara Energy would like to state for the record that these reports are a rehash of previously published articles on the subject which have been making the rounds since Q4 2023.
The allegations cited in the articles are unsubstantiated and concocted in a manner that shows a total lack of journalistic acumen and veracity.
We also state for the record that the products supply referred to in the articles, were supplied subsequent to an open tender conducted by SONAP in which Sahara emerged as the preferred supplier based on the results of the tender.
The tender was necessitated in response to market disruptions occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war.
We also note the following important series of events that surrounded the bidding process as they help to put the events into the right context.
- SONAP organized the Tender originally on the 25th of February 2022, the companies who participated in the tender were Sahara Energy, Addax and Mocho Energy. Following the transparent and competitive bidding process, Sahara Energy emerged as the winner and received a notification of award on the 4th March 2022
Consequently, the importation contract was signed on the 11th March 2022
- Following the Russia-Ukraine War induced disruptions in-excess of what was predicted, an ad-hoc meeting was convened to discuss the impact of the war on supply of products to Guinea.
- The meeting had major local distributors and marketing companies in attendance
- It is important to note that at this time, even the traders managing the existing contracts had declared a force majeure due to the supply and pricing disruptions as a result of the war
- This force majeure declaration led to SONAP purchasing spot cargoes at prices marginally higher than the tender price to ensure there were no product shortages in the country
- Demond, Total, Vitol and Sahara Energy all participated in the spot purchase arrangements
- In response to the further heightened geo-political tension generated by the war as it progressed and the UN started considering sanctions, SONAP approved further increase in prices in supply contracts as the prices agreed to in the contracts was no longer realistic given the volatility in the market.
- This was done to ensure continued access to products in the country
- Following the above, the first supply price amendment was approved for 6 months by SONAP on 8 April, 2022
- On the 20th September 2022 the second amendment was approved for a further 6 month period
- On the 20th April 2023 a the third amendment was approved for a further 1 month period.
- One month later, the fourth amendment was signed with the price negotiated downwards to $90 per tonne.
- This price was below the original awarded tender price before the force majeure was declared due to market conditions.
- This reduced was possible due to the global commodity market supply and prices stabilizing after the first year of the war as the market adjusted to the effective loss of volumes that had previously originated in Russia and refineries across the world were able to make the necessary adjustments to take up the fall in supply.
- These interim spot awards that were done to avoid stock outs in the country were supplied by a multitude of traders including but not limited to Demond, Total, Vitol and Sahara Energy
The above clearly shows the transparent trajectory of the product supply transactions, and how at every turn, the professional team at SONAP were able to react to the market dynamics with all stakeholders working in the best interest of the good people of Guinea ensuring there were no stock outs of products.
The online publications referenced above also claimed that the DG of SONAP, Amadou Doumbouya was allegedly able to purchase properties in the US at around the same time of the tender award.
We are unable to respond to this as we have no knowledge of the personal circumstances of Mr. Doumbouya or indeed the veracity of the insinuations of the allegations in the article which appear to be pure speculation and can only unfortunately be described as baseless reckless insinuations.
The Sahara Group has built a formidable global brand over the past 27 years, Sahara Energy is delighted to be a stakeholder in the oil and gas sector in Guinea since 2017.
Over this period, our focus has been an unwavering desire to ‘Bring Energy To The Lives’ of the good people Guinea responsibly through transparent, professional, and credible energy solutions.We will continue to deliver on this privilege to serve, working alongside SONAP in conjunction with the regulatory agencies and stakeholders in the sector.
We urge all our partners and stakeholders to disregard these false reports in their entirety.
