By SANFROSSA MANYINDA and SILUMESI MALUMO
THERE will be sufficient fuel on the market when Indeni Petroleum Refinery resumes production with crude arriving this week, Permanently Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, Trevor Kaunda, has said.
Mr Kaunda said crude oil was expected to reach Ndola by the end of this week for Indeni to resume processing the crude oil into finished products.
Indeni has suffered from frequent shutdowns due to insufficient feedstock supply and routine maintenance
The petroleum processing firm has had no crude oil for about five months now which was partly triggered by the coronavirus pandemic which interrupted feedstock imports.
But Government recently bought 10 cargo of feedstock for the firm amounting to over $490 million which would go in excess of 15 months.
Mr Kaunda explained in an interview that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) had continued to bring in petrol and diesel by road.
He however complained that there has been panic-buying by the public on the mistaken assumption that pump price adjustment was looming.
Mr Kaunda said that this was the reason some parts of the country had experienced the shortage in the last few days.
“I can confirm that this is not the case. Furthermore, more petrol and diesel will be available on the market once Indeni is in production,” he said. Mr Kaunda stated that the monthly national consumption of diesel stood at 87 million litres and 39 million litres for petrol and that Government had taken measures to ensure the country had sufficient fuel stocks.
In Parliament, Minister of Energy, Mathew Nkhuwa said fuel crisis which had hit the country would be addressed in the next one week,
Mr Nkhuwa said the government was putting up long time measures to address the fuel shortage in the country.
The minister said fuel tankers had started coming into the country, therefore the fuel crisis would be the thing of the past. Mr Nkhuwa was responding to Mazabuka Central Member of Parliament Garry Nkombo who wanted to know what was the cause of the sudden erratic supply of fuel, which is affecting all economic sectors, countrywide and what urgent measures the government is taking to normalise the situation.
Mr Nkombo also wanted to know what long term measures are being taken to ensure a normal supply of fuel in the country.
Meanwhile Mr Nkhuwa said “Government has engaged Oil Marketing Companies to import enough products for consumers and government is further engaging the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to ensure that tankers passing their facilities were quickly cleared to speed up delivery of the commodity in the country.
‘Government has also agreed with Tanzanian government to clear all Zambian bound petroleum products.
The Ministry of Energy in collaboration with ERB and TAZAMA Pipeline Limited has come up with measures to speed up fuel delivery by OMCs and also introduce flexible working hours to service all OMCs efficiently,” he said.
He also indicated that his ministry in collaboration with Ministry of Home Affairs was offering police escort to tankers for speed delivery of products to their destinations.
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