A company recently sold by BP to the controversial oil trader Trafigura has been forced to apologise for refusing to comply with a government order to cut fuel prices in one of the world's poorest countries.

BP Tanzania said it "regrets the unfortunate events" that led to its wholesale fuel licence being withdrawn by Tanzania's energy regulator. "What we are apologising for is holding supply," Engelhardt Kongoro, managing director BP Tanzania told Bloomberg in a move designed to win back its operating permit.

Last month the Energy and Water Utilities Authority withdrew its licence for three months after BP Tanzania had refused to supply fuel at cheaper prices.

The company was owned by BP at the time, but has been sold off in the last couple of weeks to Puma Energy, an arm of Trafigura, the Dutch-based trading company that was heavily criticised for allegedly dumping toxic waste in Ivory Coast.

BP Tanzania was one of a number of companies that appealed to a tribunal in August to scrap the regulator's new pricing formula.

"As soon as we get a written letter from BP stating that they are issuing a public apology, withdrawing the case they had filed against us, and that they are willing to pay legal fees, we will consider lifting the suspension," Haruna Masebu, director general of the energy regulator, said.

BP Tanzania withheld supply after the regulator cut prices of petroleum products and the company sought clearance from shareholders to comply with the ruling, Kongoro said. The regulator changed its pricing formula, reducing petrol prices by 9.2%.

"BP Tanzania had concerns with this formula as it would have had the impact of selling product below cost," Kongoro said.