Morocco’s nine dominant fuel distributors saw their market share drop from 89% in 2023 to 84% in 2024, according to a new report from the Competition Council.
The figures suggest a changing energy landscape, but not all experts agree that this signals a more competitive market.
Despite the dip, some experts caution against reading too much into the numbers. “The drop in market share from 89% to 84% does not indicate a more competitive market by any means,” says Mohammed Jadri, a Moroccan economist. “Fuel companies remain highly profitable and attractive to investors.”
Fuel prices at the pump dropped significantly in 2024 compared to the inflation-fueled highs of 2022, when oil briefly exceeded USD 140 a barrel. By contrast, prices fell below USD 65 in recent months, easing pressure on consumers, but not on corporate profits.
“It is true that sales in the fuel market have declined, but this is largely due to easing inflation,” Jadri explains. “While fuel prices dropped, profitability didn’t.”
And the numbers back him up. Despite the price drop, the fuel sector posted a net profit margin of 2.9% in 2024, a strong rebound from 0.5% in 2023.
A visible sign of industry confidence came in the form of 188 new fuel stations, which opened in 2024, bringing the national total to over 3,500, Jadri explained.
“This clearly shows that the market remains highly attractive to investors, who view it as a reliable source of profit,” says Jadri.
The five-point decline in import market share by the top nine firms raised eyebrows, particularly with new names like “BB Energy Morocco” and “BGN Energy Maroc” entering the scene.
“Fuel companies have consistently recorded strong profits over the years, with the exception of 2023, when they were impacted by a reconciliation fine imposed by the Competition Council,” the economist said.
Rephrase in a different way as if you were a native American speaker as a content creation expert and do not talk about yourself or your experience in the text and do not show yourself as an artificial intelligence who wrote and fill the bullet point in the topic and speak the heart of the topic itself and dont take date of blog in ther first and dont take text like box of newsliter subscribe on post from content and romove all linke insert in content and and remove all affiliate disclosure phrases on content like this “This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links that allow us to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please see our Disclosure Policy for more info” and “#” put in its place bullet point, and romove name of the web site or his links we are take a content from our new creation
