The West African Development Bank (BOAD) has approved CFA37 billion ($64.1 million) to finance a 170,000-cubic-metre expansion of petroleum storage capacity at the Complexe Pétrolier de Lomé (COMPEL), strengthening Togo’s ability to hold and redistribute fuel while reinforcing Lomé’s position as a logistics and energy-supply gateway for landlocked countries across the Sahel. The financing was approved at BOAD’s 152nd Board of Directors meeting in Lomé on September 24, 2026, with the bank specifically identifying energy security in Togo and the wider hinterland as the objective of the investment.
The project will add 170,000 cubic metres to COMPEL’s existing operational storage capacity of about 244,000 cubic metres. If the additional capacity is fully commissioned, the complex would have more than 400,000 cubic metres of operational storage, representing an increase of roughly 70% over its current capacity. The scale of the expansion is significant for a facility whose location close to the Port of Lomé allows imported petroleum products to be received by sea before being stored and distributed into Togo and regional markets.
COMPEL is located in Lomé’s industrial zone, about 3.5 kilometres from the Port Autonome de Lomé. According to the facility, its infrastructure includes a petroleum terminal capable of handling vessels of up to 250 metres, dedicated pipelines for different petroleum products and loading facilities for tanker trucks. The company describes the complex as a regional storage and distribution platform serving both domestic and West African markets, with particular relevance to landlocked countries in the Sahel.
The investment comes at a time when the resilience of West Africa’s fuel-supply chains is facing greater scrutiny. Landlocked economies such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger depend on coastal countries and overland corridors to bring imported petroleum products into their domestic markets. The African Development Bank has described Togo and Benin as maritime outlets for these landlocked economies, with the Lomé and Cotonou ports serving as important gateways for inland trade.
Lomé’s relevance is not simply a function of its port. The value of a regional energy hub depends on the interaction between maritime infrastructure, storage capacity, road corridors, border facilities and inland distribution networks. Togo has developed transit routes linking Lomé with Ouagadougou, Niamey and Bamako, giving the port access to markets that extend well beyond the country’s relatively small domestic economy. Current corridor information identifies the Lomé-Ouagadougou route at about 1,000 kilometres and the Lomé-Niamey corridor at approximately 1,240 kilometres.
The importance of those corridors has increased as trade routes in the region have become more sensitive to security conditions, border procedures and disruptions elsewhere. The African Development Bank said in a 2026 assessment of the CU18 corridor that transport operators were seeking alternative routes to the Lomé and Cotonou ports because of security conditions affecting parts of Niger and eastern Burkina Faso. The resulting increase in heavy-duty traffic has also placed additional pressure on transit infrastructure and border facilities.
Fuel supply has provided a more immediate illustration of those vulnerabilities. In September 2026, Reuters reported that Ghana’s state-owned fuel distributor BOST had reduced diesel and gasoline exports to Burkina Faso and Mali in order to prioritise domestic supply amid tighter global fuel availability. BOST delivered significantly less than the quantities requested by the two countries, highlighting the exposure of landlocked markets to supply decisions and disruptions in coastal exporting countries.
The COMPEL expansion does not eliminate those risks. Fuel still has to be imported, transported and distributed through regional corridors, and larger storage capacity does not guarantee uninterrupted supply when international prices, shipping availability, security conditions or road networks become constrained. But additional storage can give importers and distributors greater flexibility in managing the timing of cargoes and maintaining inventories during periods of disruption.
That function has become increasingly important as petroleum markets remain exposed to geopolitical shocks. For countries without refineries or direct access to seaborne imports, storage acts as part of the physical infrastructure of energy security. Larger inventories can potentially reduce the frequency with which supply shortages translate immediately into domestic disruptions, although the effectiveness of additional capacity depends on how inventories are financed, regulated and managed.
For Togo, the project also has implications for the country’s logistics strategy. The government has sought to position Lomé as a regional trade and transport hub, with the port connected to inland markets through road corridors and logistics facilities. Expanding fuel storage adds another layer to that strategy by strengthening the infrastructure supporting a commodity that is essential to transport, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and electricity generation across the region.
The investment is also linked to the structure of Togo’s petroleum-sector assets. In 2019, the Togolese government transferred its 100% stake in COMPEL to Togo Invest Corporation, alongside a 40% stake in the Société Togolaise de Stockage de Lomé and a 79.34% stake in Togo Oil Company. The state investment holding company was established to participate in strategic projects and develop financing and partnership mechanisms around national development priorities.
Togo Invest describes itself as the state’s investment arm for strategic projects, with a mandate covering equity participation, the creation of companies and the development of financing and partnerships for the country’s economic-development corridor. Its involvement in COMPEL therefore places the storage complex within a wider state strategy around logistics, infrastructure and regional trade rather than treating it solely as a petroleum facility.
The expansion also follows earlier investments at COMPEL. The complex has been undertaking maintenance and storage upgrades, including work on storage tanks and the development of additional aviation-fuel capacity. Such investments are relevant to the diversification of products handled through Lomé, where petroleum infrastructure must accommodate different fuel specifications and distribution requirements.
The wider energy context makes the investment more complex than a simple increase in petroleum storage. Togo is simultaneously seeking to strengthen electricity supply and increase the contribution of renewable energy to its energy system. The country’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources reported that renewables accounted for 41.24% of the national electricity mix at the end of 2025, while the national electrification rate reached 75%. The ministry is also pursuing additional thermal-generation capacity and other measures aimed at strengthening electricity supply.
That means petroleum infrastructure sits alongside, rather than outside, the country’s broader energy-transition agenda. Petroleum products remain essential to transport and industrial activity even as governments expand renewable electricity and pursue cleaner energy systems. For an economy positioned as a regional logistics hub, the immediate reliability of liquid-fuel supply can have direct consequences for freight, ports, construction and trade.
The distinction is important for development planning. Energy security is not synonymous with increasing fossil-fuel consumption. It also involves ensuring that businesses, transport operators and households are not exposed to sudden physical shortages that disrupt economic activity. In this context, storage infrastructure can be viewed as a resilience asset within an energy system that is gradually becoming more diversified.
At the regional level, the project could also influence the economics of fuel distribution. A larger storage facility close to a deep-water port can reduce the need for repeated small-scale shipments and provide additional capacity for bulk handling. Whether those efficiencies translate into lower costs for end users will depend on procurement arrangements, transportation costs, taxes, storage charges, competition among distributors and conditions in international petroleum markets.
For landlocked Sahel countries, the issue is particularly significant because fuel must travel hundreds or even more than a thousand kilometres from coastal entry points to inland markets. The cost and reliability of that transport are affected by road quality, border procedures, security and vehicle turnaround times. The African Development Bank has already identified congestion and infrastructure constraints along some of the corridors connecting Togo and Benin to inland economies.
This places COMPEL’s expansion within a broader infrastructure equation. Storage can strengthen one component of the supply chain, but its full regional value depends on the capacity of roads, border crossings, trucking networks and inland depots to move products efficiently. The development of fuel infrastructure therefore has implications for transport planning and regional trade policy as much as for energy policy.
BOAD’s financing also reflects the development bank’s wider strategy for the region. Its 2026-2030 strategy targets CFA6.5 trillion in financing over five years and identifies energy transition, strategic infrastructure, climate resilience and private-sector development among its priority areas. The bank has continued to finance both conventional energy-security infrastructure and renewable-energy projects as part of its broader development mandate.
The September board meeting illustrates that approach. BOAD approved CFA157.5 billion in new operations across its member states, including the COMPEL storage expansion, transport infrastructure, agricultural investment, private-sector financing and renewable-energy-related credit lines. The Togo government said the COMPEL transaction formed part of CFA82 billion in new BOAD financing for the country during the session, alongside CFA45 billion for the third phase of an agricultural mechanisation and irrigation programme.
For Togo, the combination of agricultural and energy infrastructure investment is relevant to a broader question of economic resilience. Food systems require irrigation and productive infrastructure, while agricultural and industrial value chains require reliable energy and transport. Regional logistics infrastructure can connect those systems to wider markets, but only if physical capacity is matched by efficient institutions and predictable trade corridors.
The COMPEL expansion therefore has significance beyond the additional tanks themselves. It strengthens a piece of infrastructure that sits at the intersection of maritime trade, petroleum markets, inland transport and regional energy security. Its economic value will ultimately depend on how effectively the additional capacity is integrated into the wider supply network and whether Lomé can continue to provide reliable access to inland markets amid changing regional conditions.
The CFA37 billion BOAD financing consequently positions COMPEL as more than a domestic petroleum-storage project. By potentially taking the facility beyond 400,000 cubic metres of capacity, the investment could increase the physical resilience of Togo’s fuel-supply system while strengthening the infrastructure supporting Lomé’s role in regional trade. The next test will be whether the additional storage capacity is matched by efficient inland corridors, diversified supply arrangements and the institutional coordination required to translate infrastructure capacity into more resilient regional energy markets.
