SONIDEP

Stock performance

History

SONIDEP was created in 1977 as the state company responsible for importing, storing, and distributing petroleum products in Niger. Its role grew as Niger became an oil producer with the Chinese-developed Agadem fields and the Zinder refinery, which opened in 2011, and in 2020 it was transformed into the Société Nigérienne de Pétrole, with a mandate covering the entire oil chain.

Business model

SONIDEP supplies fuel to the domestic market through storage depots across the country, markets petroleum products, and holds the state's interests in the oil sector, including exports of crude through the pipeline to the port of Sèmè in Benin, which began operating in 2024.

Market position

SONIDEP is Niger's national oil company and the state's main player in a sector dominated by Chinese partner CNPC.

Country impact

The start of crude exports through the Niger-Benin pipeline was expected to transform Niger's public finances, but tensions with Benin after the 2023 coup disrupted the project, illustrating how politics shapes the country's oil revenue.