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Congolese downstream player Imperatus Energy – a Silver Sponsor of African Energy Week: Invest in African Energies – is expanding its footprint across the oil and gas value chain. The company aims to create an upstream subsidiary to support national production targets, while also strengthening its trading operations through a new office in Geneva. In addition, Imperatus is developing a storage infrastructure project aimed at boosting strategic reserves and facilitating re-export across the region. In an interview with African Energy Week, Oumar Semega, CEO, Imperatus Energy spoke about the company’s broader strategy to diversify its operations and enhance energy access across Central and West Africa.

Imperatus Energy has rapidly expanded its presence in energy trading and infrastructure. What are the company’s latest strategic advances, especially since Invest in African Energy in Paris?

Imperatus Energy has entered a new phase of restructuring, diversification and expansion. Previously, we were purely a trading company – now, we’ve created a new upstream subsidiary —Imperatus Energy Exploration & Production—to establish a stronger presence in oil operations in Africa. We’re also setting up a Geneva subsidiary to support our trading activities, complementing our office in Dubai. These offices are key to developing intra-African oil and gas trade. We also initiated a storage infrastructure project, although it’s still at a very early stage of development.

Where will the subsidiaries be based and what are your immediate plans?

The upstream subsidiary is legally registered and based in the Republic of Congo. We’re now undergoing the full administrative process. Our aim is to contribute to Congo’s objective of reaching 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2028.

The Geneva office will be part of our trading business. We’ve already begun staffing and expect it to be fully operational by October Geneva and Dubai will serve as our global commercial hubs.

How is Imperatus positioning itself to support and benefit from Congo’s energy expansion, both upstream and downstream?

Our goal is to be active across the entire value chain. New production and refining projects—like the Chinese refinery and the Coraf upgrade—create opportunities in crude and refined product trading. We aim to offer offtake solutions and add value to every barrel produced for export. Our future storage infrastructure will support both strategic reserves and export capacity. We’re also strengthening our logistics through our transport structure and downstream activities. Alongside the E&P subsidiary, we created Imperatus Energy Distribution to handle refined product distribution, including LPG and LNG for household and industrial use.

Could you expand on the storage project and any partnerships you’re developing?

The project aims to increase Congo’s storage capacity and strategic stock levels. Current national storage capacity is insufficient. Our goal is to serve both the domestic market and the wider sub-region. We’re designing a terminal that can support re-export operations to CEMAC countries and the DRC, where current delivery times are quite long. Discussions are ongoing with potential partners, but nothing is finalized yet.

Are you adapting your strategies to meet broader regional needs beyond Congo?

Our supply chain strategy targets both local and regional markets. From our Congo base, we aim to serve all countries of Central Africa through overland and river routes. For example, the CAR can be supplied six months by river and six months by road. With improved logistics corridors from Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville, we can expand deliveries of refined products and, in the future, all types of gas. Congo’s location as a coastal transit hub gives us a competitive edge.

You’re one of the sponsors of Africa Energy Week. What does Imperatus Energy hope to achieve at this event?

First, the forum gives us access to decision-makers, investors and potential clients, including states seeking supply partnerships or buyers for their crude. Second, it helps build our brand. We’ve only existed for three years, and visibility at such forums is vital for credibility. We want to show what Imperatus does—from production to storage to distribution—and identify collaboration opportunities in offtake, export and more.