Government again guarantees there is no shortage of fuel – AIM report

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Government again guarantees there is no shortage of fuel – AIM report

7:30 CAT | 01 Feb 2017

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The Mozambican government on Monday guaranteed that the fuel supply situation is under control, and that there is no reason for alarm.

Speaking at a Monday press conference, the national director of fuel in the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, Moises Paulino, admitted that some filling stations in Maputo, Matola and Beira had run out of fuel. He blamed this on “disturbances in the logistical chain”, which would be overcome by late Monday afternoon.

Paulino had given similar assurances on Saturday, but the shortages, particularly in Matola, worsened over the weekend, sending frustrated motorists on a hunt through the city looking for any filling station that still had petrol.

The logistical problem mentioned by Paulino was a delay in the ships carrying fuel to the main Mozambican ports (Maputo, Beira and Nacala).

“Unlike claims made in social media and other circles of opinion”, said Paulino, “we would like to assure you that there are enough stocks to guarantee fuel supplies in the country”. Ships were unloading fuel in Maputo and Beira in amounts sufficient to supply the market.

Paulino said that, as soon as his Ministry saw that filling stations were running out “we worked with the distribution companies and with all those involved in this process to restore the stocks of fuel. Our idea was to restore the stocks by Sunday, but everything indicates that we will only be able to do it completely today”.

“We had some logistical problems in importing the fuel”, Paulino insisted. “You know that in Mozambique all liquid fuels are imported. That’s why we are committed to maximizing the use of gas, because we produce natural gas”.

Later in the day, when contacted by the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, Paulino strongly denied that there was any problem in paying for the fuel. The fuel is all imported by the company IMOPETRO, which is responsible for adding together the requests from the various fuel distribution companies, the largest of which is the state fuel company, Petromoc, which distributes around 40 per cent of the total.

“There’s no question of any lack of money”, declared Paulino. “The government has made a point of providing these services, just as it does with water, electricity and bread, so that Mozambicans do not go short”.

All that had happened, he said, was a “slight shortcoming in the import procedure, because the ship was a little late. The ship did not dock on time. These are administrative procedures and they contributed to a delay of a day or two”.

Paulono added that it was important to identify what had gone wrong, and take measures to ensure that it did not happen again.

Those who had caused the delay would be held responsible, he said, because “Mozambicans deserve a better service and we, as the government, have to provide that service”.

Mozambique imports around 1.5 million cubic metres of liquid fuels annually, and the monthly bill is between 100 and 150 million US dollars.

Source: AIM