(The Fuel Files Series — Making the Petroleum Inquiry Speak for the People)
Every major corruption case has a ground zero.
“In the $30 million fuel mystery, the ground zero is Gam Petroleum Storage Facility Ltd” the depot at Mandinari, supposed to protect The Gambia’s strategic fuel reserves, but instead became the door through which foreign traders walked in and took over.
The joint FPAC–PEC report described it as” a private facility operating within a public blind spot.”
What Gam Petroleum Was Meant to Be
Gam Petroleum was built to guarantee national energy security, where Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) could store imported fuel safely before distribution.
It was meant to be tightly regulated by PURA and overseen by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MOPE).
In principle, every litre that enters or leaves the tanks should have:
1. A storage agreement,
2. A bill of lading (the ship’s cargo document),
3. A lifting permit issued by PURA, and
4. A tax clearance confirmed by GRA.
However, the inquiry found that for much of 2022–2023, these four controls were either missing, ignored, or completely bypassed.
The Perfect Loophole
The key vulnerability lay in a policy signed by then-Minister Abdoulie Jobe, labelled MOPE/GOGP/PP/002.
It allowed fuel imported by “international traders” to be stored at Gam Petroleum for “re-export” to other countries.
This was meant to attract business and keep the depot busy.
In practice, it became a backdoor for unlicensed trading.
Here’s what the Committee found:
• Foreign companies like Apogee FZC used the “re-export” clause to bring fuel in, store it, and sell it locally.
• The depot allowed lifting without PURA’s daily reconciliation or stock confirmation.
• No one verified whether the so-called exports ever left the country.
• GRA did not collect the appropriate customs or excise duties on many lifts.
This meant millions of dalasis in potential revenue evaporated while traders profited in the shadows.
The Paper Trail That Went Missing
When auditors asked for stock movement records, how much fuel came in, who lifted it, and when, they were told the records were ”under reconstruction.”
The last full stock reconciliation Gam Petroleum had completed dated back to 2022, leaving an 18-month gap unaccounted for when the inquiry began.
Even the depot’s digital tracking system, which should have logged every transaction, was reportedly ”offline due to software maintenance.”
No one could explain who approved manual entries or what checks were in place during that period.
In one striking exchange, the Committee noted that a *foreign vessel discharged over 10,000 metric tons of gasoil in July 2023*, yet there was no corresponding tax entry, lifting note, or customs record.
The Cost of Weak Oversight
The FPAC–PEC team calculated that between 2022 and 2023, *Gam Petroleum handled over USD 200 million in petroleum products* through its tanks, fuel belonging to foreign traders, local OMCs, and state institutions. Still, only a fraction of those flows were thoroughly documented in government systems.
They concluded that:
”Gam Petroleum’s operations were allowed to proceed as if it were a private commercial yard, rather than a national strategic storage asset.”
The depot’s failure to reconcile stocks, monitor ullage (tank space), and enforce payment verification made it the perfect environment for fraud, tax evasion, and policy abuse.
Who Was Watching?
“PURA”, the regulatory watchdog, “admitted that it conducted no real-time oversight and lacked an in-house technical team stationed at the depot.”
Their monitoring relied on monthly self-reports submitted by Gam Petroleum, reports that were “neither audited nor verified.”
The Ministry of Petroleum said it had “limited manpower,” while GRA confirmed it did not have customs officers permanently deployed inside the depot.
This meant no one had an independent eye on what was coming in or going out.
Think of it like a border post without customs officers; everything depends on the honesty of the person declaring the goods.
The Companies Involved
The inquiry traced recurring contracts between Gam Petroleum and the three foreign firms, Apogee FZC, Creed Energy Ltd, and Ultimate Beige Logistics, “none of which held valid Gambian OMC licences.”
Their names appeared in invoices, shipment manifests, and Access Bank transaction records, but not in any licensing or tax registry maintained by PURA or GRA.
The Committee also flagged that these firms often operated through local intermediaries, including Gambian nationals who signed correspondence on their behalf without clear legal standing.
The Bigger Picture
The inquiry concluded that the Gam Petroleum depot had become the weakest link in the country’s fuel supply chain.
It wasn’t just about one transaction; it was about a culture of informal approvals, missing records, and shared blind spots across multiple institutions.
When a national strategic facility runs without transparency, it doesn’t just lose money; it hands outsiders control of national energy security.
What FPAC & PEC Recommended
1. Immediate forensic audit of Gam Petroleum’s books and tank balances for 2022–2024.
2. Permanent customs, PURA, and GRA are inside the depot.
3. Reclassification of Gam Petroleum as a strategic national asset under full government regulation.
4. Prosecution and surcharge of officials who authorised undocumented lifts or ignored oversight duties.
The People’s Takeaway
Gam Petroleum was built with the public’s hope that it would keep the lights on and the pumps running.
But hope without control is an open tap.
Fuel worth billions flowed in and out for years, while the public paid the price of mismanagement.
The scandal isn’t just about stolen money , it’s about a stolen system, where accountability was traded for convenience and foreign firms played a game the state forgot to referee.
Next Up → Part 3: ” The Offshore Web — Apogee FZC, Creed Energy & Ultimate Beige Logistics.”
I follow the money trail abroad, through Dubai, London, and Accra, and reveal who profited from The Gambia’s lost fuel.
By Jallow Modou, Washington D.C., USA- Financial Analyst
Making the Petroleum Inquiry Speak for the People
