Botswana licenses energy through a single regulator, and that is a genuine advantage over neighbouring systems. The Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority, established by the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority Act 2016 and operating since 1 September 2017, regulates electricity, petroleum products, gas, coal, solar and all forms of renewable energy from one place.
Under section 34(1) of the Act, service providers in the regulated sectors must be licensed, and section 37 lists exactly which petroleum activities require a licence. If your business does any of them, you need a licence. If it does not, you do not.
The most important recent development is practical rather than legal. In August 2025 BERA moved to revoke every petroleum products import licence that had never been used, and imposed a new condition: an import licence application must demonstrate ownership or rental of a storage facility licensed by the Authority. Anyone planning to import fuel into Botswana now needs to solve storage first.
Insika assesses petroleum opportunities in Botswana, establishes which licences a specific business actually needs, and coordinates the site, storage, environmental and technical work behind an application.
The seven licensable petroleum activities
Section 37 of the Act sets out the petroleum activities that must be licensed. This is the list to check your business model against before anything else.
- Construction and operation of a petroleum pipeline.
- Transporting petroleum products over a pipeline.
- Construction and operation of storage facilities.
- Construction and operation of loading or discharge facilities.
- Construction and operation of a retail service station.
- Manufacturing of petroleum products.
- Import and export of petroleum products.
Two things follow from reading the list carefully. First, storage is its own licensable activity, separate from importing. Second, a retail service station is licensed on construction and operation, which means the licence conversation starts at the design stage rather than when you are ready to open.
Most real fuel businesses need more than one of these. A retail chain with its own depot and its own supply is running three licensable activities, not one.
The import licence condition that changed the market
In a signed press release dated 19 August 2025, BERA set out a problem and its remedy, and both matter commercially.
The problem. BERA monitors petroleum supply into the country by analysing import volumes received monthly from the Botswana Unified Revenue Service. That monitoring revealed that only a few companies were actively importing, despite the many import licences issued since BERA began operating in September 2017. The Authority also received allegations that these dormant licences were being misused in the market.
The remedy. BERA decided to revoke all petroleum products import licences that had remained unused since issue, under section 46 of the Act, which requires that a licensee be given the opportunity to show cause why the licence should not be revoked. Licensed importers were directed to contact the Authority to schedule a meeting.
The new condition. BERA also imposed a further requirement for the issue of an import licence: an application must demonstrate ownership or rental of a storage facility that has been duly licensed by the Authority.
Reporting duties once you are licensed
A licence in Botswana carries ongoing obligations, and BERA actively monitors compliance rather than filing returns.
Under Regulations 9 and 10 of the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (Petroleum Products) Regulations of 2024, importers are compelled to:
- Report on projected annual consumption requirements.
- Report on the sourcing of petroleum products.
- Submit volume reconciliations to the Authority.
Section 9(2)(d) of the Act mandates the Authority to monitor the performance of regulated entities in relation to the distribution and supply of services. In practice that means your reported volumes are checked against BURS import data. The reporting is not a formality and inconsistencies are visible.
Product quality is regulated too. The regulatory framework defines a habitual offender as a licensee found with non-conforming products more than twice within a licence period, and treats a leak or spill of more than 200 litres as a reportable incident. Fuel quality and incident management need to be operational systems, not policies in a file.
Applying: what the process looks like
Applications are made on the forms prescribed by the regulations and accompanied by a non-refundable application fee prescribed by the Minister. BERA evaluates an application to verify its completeness and the legality of the information in it, and applications are published as part of the process. If BERA denies an application it must inform the applicant in writing with reasons. On approval, the applicant is notified to collect the licence on payment of the licence fee.
On duration, the regulations provide that a licence is valid for a term of years indicated on the face of the licence, rather than a single statutory period for everyone, and that the Authority may extend the period on written application by the licensee. That means the term is something to discuss in the application rather than assume.
The four petroleum businesses in Botswana
- Import and wholesale. Now gated on licensed storage, and subject to the customs regime on our import and export page. Botswana imports essentially all its refined product, so supply relationships and storage access are the business, and Botswana Oil Limited is a significant counterparty in the sector.
- Retail service stations. Licensed on construction and operation, so the regulator is involved from design. Site, land tenure, environmental authorisation and forecourt engineering all have to line up.
- Storage, loading and discharge facilities. Separately licensable, capital intensive, and now strategically more valuable than before given the import condition. A licensed facility is an asset other importers need.
- Pipelines and transport. Construction and operation of a pipeline, and transporting product over one, are each licensable activities in their own right.
Manufacturing of petroleum products is the seventh activity and a different order of project, but it is expressly contemplated by the Act.
How a Botswana fuel project comes together
The order below reflects where the real constraints now sit.
- Model against section 37
Establish exactly which of the seven activities your business performs, because that determines how many licences you need and in what order.
- Storage strategy
For anything touching import, resolve licensed storage first, by ownership or rental. This is now a precondition, not a later step.
- Company and trade licence
CIPA incorporation and the trade licence from the local authority. See business registration and licensing.
- Site and land
Tenure, access and, where the land is tribal, the Land Board process.
- Environmental authorisation
Through the Department of Environmental Affairs under the Environmental Assessment Act 2011. Fuel storage and handling is exactly what that regime is for. See environmental compliance.
- Engineering and safety design
Tanks, forecourt, loading and discharge, fire and incident systems, designed to the standards the licence will be judged against.
- BERA application
On the prescribed forms with the non-refundable application fee, and with the storage evidence where an import licence is sought.
- Operate and report
Projected consumption, sourcing and volume reconciliations to BERA, and product quality managed as an operational system.
What Insika does on a Botswana petroleum project
- Activity mapping. Which of the seven licensable activities you actually perform, and therefore which licences you need.
- Storage strategy. Resolving the licensed storage condition by ownership, rental or partnership before an import application is made.
- Regulatory engagement. Confirming current forms, fees and terms with BERA rather than working from published drafts.
- Site and environmental coordination. Land, Land Board where applicable, and environmental authorisation started early.
- Technical coordination. Engineering, safety and incident systems specified to what the licence requires.
- Compliance systems. Reporting, volume reconciliation and product quality set up as processes on day one, because BERA cross-checks against BURS data.
Official sources
This guide is based on the current rules published by the relevant Botswana authorities. Always confirm the latest fees and requirements with the office that applies to you.