Cameroon’s Neptune Group, led by businessman Antoine Ndzengue, has begun marketing its own liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) brand, Neptune Gaz.
The rollout is gradual and is being carried out through the group’s service stations nationwide. An initial batch of about 10,000 cylinders is already in circulation.
Until now, Neptune retailed LPG cylinders produced by rival suppliers. The group is shifting to an own-brand strategy to capture more value along the distribution chain. Industry sources say Neptune plans to gradually replace third-party cylinders at its stations with Neptune Gaz-branded units. The company has not disclosed the size of the investment.
Neptune said it sources its cylinders from Prometal Groupe, using a supply chain now fully based in Cameroon. Until 2021, all LPG cylinders used in the country were imported. In 2022, Prometal Groupe, Central Africa’s leading steel processor, began producing locally manufactured cylinders at its plant in the Douala-Bassa industrial zone.
The factory required an investment of 12 billion CFA francs and has an annual production capacity of 600,000 cylinders. Once domestic demand, estimated at between 450,000 and 500,000 units a year, is met, Prometal says it could export at least 100,000 cylinders annually.
Neptune is entering a market dominated by companies including TotalEnergies, Tradex, Ola Energy and Bocom. Official data show that local LPG production meets only about 20% of demand, estimated at around 30,000 tonnes, leaving scope for new entrants.
The scale of the supply shortfall was highlighted by Water and Energy Minister Gaston Eloundou Essomba during parliamentary hearings on the 2025 budget. He said Cameroon imported nearly 1.8 million metric tonnes of refined petroleum products between January and October 2025, including about 1.6 million tonnes of petrol, diesel and kerosene, compared with 208,210 tonnes of imported household gas.
Amina Malloum
