Mozambique: No shortage of fuel, says Imopetro

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Mozambique: No shortage of fuel, says Imopetro

9:37 CAT | 21 Apr 2020

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The Mozambique Petroleum Import Agency, Imopetro, has guaranteed that the country has enough petrol and diesel to meet demand for at least the next two and a half months.

Cited in Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, the Imopetro Director of Operations, Eleuterio Uaila, said “Right now we have stocks of petrol for the entire country for the next 75 days. We have enough jet fuel for 54 days, and we have diesel for 71 days”.

Furthermore, there is more fuel, which has already been purchased, but which has not yet entered Mozambique solely for lack of storage space. Two ships are on their way to Mozambican ports laden with 63,000 tonnes of petroleum products, which should arrive in May. Other supplies are scheduled to reach the country in June.

It is not at all clear where these new cargoes can be stored. Uaila said that, with the collapse in sales of fuel, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no space in the fuel tank farms for new supplies. Ships are now queuing up, waiting for space.

Asked about the price of fuel, Uaila said any decision would be taken by the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Globally, the oil price has collapsed, but there has been no change in the prices charged at Mozambican filling stations. Since the government wants to reduce the number of cars on the roads, as a measure to halt the spread of Covid-19, there is a strong argument to increase, rather than reduce, he price of fuel, irrespective of the supply situation.

Well-to-do Mozambicans who own private cars will doubtless howl with rage, if the fuel price is increased – but it is a certain way of reducing road transport, and hence making the transmission of the disease more difficult.

Source: AIM