ZAOne missing document can send a petroleum licence application backwards.
A South African petroleum wholesale licence application must explain one credible operating model. Company records, proposed customers, supply, storage, transport, funding and supporting documents need to agree with each other before the pack is lodged.
This practical checklist helps applicants find weak evidence and contradictions early. It is an FWA preparation guide, not an official form and not a guarantee of approval.
Use the latest DMPR-38 form and current government guidance. Forms, fees, document requirements and submission procedures may change.
Define the business before collecting documents.
A licence pack becomes difficult to defend when the applicant gathers documents before deciding how the proposed wholesale business will actually operate.
Who is applying?
Confirm the legal entity, registration information, ownership and authorised representatives. Names, numbers and addresses should be consistent throughout the pack.
What will be sold, and to whom?
Define the products, target customers, expected transaction model and geographic market clearly enough for the evidence to support the proposal.
How will product move?
Explain the proposed supply, storage and transport arrangements without claiming control that the applicant cannot evidence.
Can the applicant operate the model?
Align the financial, administrative and operational capability evidence with the scale and timing of the proposed business.
Check the pack in six evidence groups.
The current official form remains authoritative. This structure is a practical control for organising the applicant’s working file before lodgement.
Applicant and authority
- Current company registration and applicant details
- Ownership and control information required by the current form
- Identity and authority of the people signing or representing the applicant
- Consistent registered, business and correspondence details
- Dated resolutions, declarations or mandates where required
Products, customers and volumes
- Clear description of the proposed wholesale activity
- Products and customer groups aligned to the application
- Realistic operating assumptions and timing
- Consistent volume, revenue and capability information
- No confusion between wholesale, retail and site activities
Supply, storage and transport
- Commercial evidence that matches the proposed model
- Named counterparties and roles that can be understood
- Storage or depot arrangements described accurately
- Transport responsibility and delivery method explained
- Dates, scope and conditions checked across agreements
Funding and viability
- Financial information prepared for the applicant entity
- Funding assumptions supported by credible evidence
- Working-capital needs aligned to the proposed volumes
- Figures consistent between plans, forecasts and forms
- Specialist work separately scoped where required
Premises, insurance and records
- Business premises and contact information current
- Insurance and risk controls matched to the proposed activity
- Recordkeeping responsibilities allocated internally
- Copies legible, current, signed and correctly certified where applicable
- One index showing every document and version
Make the story agree
- Names, dates, addresses and registration numbers match
- Supply-chain evidence supports the model described
- Financial assumptions agree with expected operations
- Every required question is answered or explained
- Gaps are recorded and resolved before lodgement
Weak applications usually fail the consistency test first.
A polished cover page cannot repair contradictory evidence. Resolve the substance before formatting the final pack.
Different applicant details
Names, addresses, ownership information or registration numbers vary between the form and supporting documents.
Generic commercial letters
Letters or agreements do not explain the product, parties, responsibility or operating arrangement they are supposed to support.
Numbers that do not reconcile
Volumes, funding, revenue and working-capital assumptions tell different stories across the pack.
Unsupported certainty
The application presents proposed arrangements as final, controlled or guaranteed when the underlying evidence says otherwise.
Choose a review level that matches your team.
Guided Support gives capable applicants a roadmap, checklist and structured pre-submission review. Assisted Support adds closer guidance through the form, evidence alignment and staged readiness process.
Choose Guided or Assisted
Match the package to the applicant’s internal capability and the condition of the current evidence.
Build the working pack
Organise each evidence group and record missing, expired or contradictory items.
Review and remediate
Work through the documented gaps before the applicant approves the final pack.
Applicant lodges
The applicant remains responsible for accuracy, final decisions, declarations and lodgement.
Application checklist questions.
Is this the official petroleum wholesale licence checklist?
No. This is an FWA preparation guide. Applicants must use the current official DMPR form, legislation and guidance.
Does a complete checklist guarantee approval?
No. Only the competent authority can decide an application. A checklist helps organise evidence and reduce avoidable gaps; it cannot guarantee approval or processing time.
When should the consistency review happen?
Review should start before the application is treated as final. Fixing contradictions after lodgement can create delay, rework and further-information requests.
What is the difference between Guided and Assisted Support?
Guided Support suits applicants managing their own pack with a structured framework and pre-submission review. Assisted Support provides closer guidance through forms, evidence alignment and staged readiness reviews.
Find the missing evidence while it is still fixable.
Compare FWA’s Guided and Assisted support packages, or read the broader guide explaining what a petroleum wholesale licence does and does not authorise.