Page 14 - DMEA Week 10 2020

DMEA FUELS DMEA
Liberia suspends fuel importers’ licences following shortages
LIBERIA
The government has accused companies of overdrawing from state- run fuel reserves.
LIBERIA has suspended the licences of all fuel importers so that it can conduct performance reviews, after some companies overdrew from state-run reserves earlier this year, sparking gas- oline shortages.
Among the companies affected is France’s Total.
Officials claim that importers that make use of state storage tanks took out fuel exceeding their quotas. As a result, the government became aware in January that it only had 1.1mn gallons (5.0mn litres) of gasoline remaining in storage, a quarter of the amount it thought it had.
Long queues at filling stations began emerg- ing in late January as supplies began to dry up. Shortages have put further pressure on the impoverished West African nation’s economy, already reeling from 30% inflation and cur- rency depreciation. They have also stoked anger against authorities.
The problems were compounded by the fact that Liberia’s main port in the capital Monrovia was unable to receive large fuel tankers because of unusually shallow waters. Silt and detritus had been accumulating at the port since sum- mer, and heavy rains have prevented crews from
routine dredging operations. According to local reports, the port has now been dredged to the necessary depth.
Shortages have dissipated, and the gov- ernment has claimed there is enough fuel to last for several months. In a statement, how- ever, President George Weah’s office said that importers’ licences would be suspended so that authorities could verify whether they were fit to operate.
Information Minister Eugene Nagbe con- firmed to Reuters that Total, the largest fuel importer, had had its licence temporarily sus- pended, but that its review could be fast-tracked. The French major stores its fuel in private facilities.
As of press time, Total has not commented on the matter.
According to the presidency’s official state- ment, importers that overdrew from storage will have 90 days to pay for what they took beyond their quota. It also noted that the deputy man- aging director of Liberia Petroleum Refining, which operates the state’s reserve tanks, had been fired “for gross negligence and fraudulent activities.” ™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 10 13•March•2020