Vivo Energy, the Shell licensee in 16 African markets, was established Dec. 1, 2011, to distribute and market Shell-branded fuels and lubricants. Vivo Energy provides fuel solutions in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda.

Its retail offering includes fuels, lubricants, card services, shops and other nonfuel services (e.g., oil changes). For businesses it provides fuels, lubricants and liquefied petroleum gas to business customers including marine, mining and manufacturing. Jet fuel is sold to customers at 23 airports though a partnership with Vitol Aviation.

The company employs around 2,300 people, operates over 1,700 retail service stations under the Shell brand and has access to about 900,000 cubic meters of fuel storage capacity. Shell and Vivo Lubricants have blending capacity of around 124,000 metric tons at plants in Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, and Tunisia, producing Shell-branded lubricants.

Completion of the transaction is expected during the first half of 2017, subject to regulatory approval.

The sale is in line with Shell’s strategy to concentrate its downstream operations where it can be most competitive, the company said.

As part of the transaction, a long-term brand license agreement has been renewed with Vitol to ensure that the Shell brand will remain visible in more than 16 African countries.