Page 13 - DMEA Week 05

DMEA REFINING DMEA
Iran now top OPEC gasoline exporter: minister claims
IRAN
The claim comes despite domestic fuel rations.
IRAN has become OPEC’s largest exporter of gasoline, Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zan- ganeh told IRIB in a live television interview on February 4.
He made no mention of US sanctions which theoretically are a big hindrance to Iranian gas- oline exports, meaning illicit transactions have not been countered by Washington to date or are passing disguised through the grey economy.
Zanganeh said that the exports became pos- sible a er new fuel measures were brought in overnight last November. Under a new rationing system, each motorist that presents their ‘gaso- line card’ is allowed to buy 60 litres (13 gallons) of petrol a month at 15,000 rials (around $0.09 at the free market rate) a litre. Each additional litre then costs 30,000 rials. Previously, drivers were allowed up to 250 litres at 10,000 rials per litre. The announcement of the big price rise and rationing sparked nationwide street unrest,
prompting o cials to shut down the internet for several days in an attempt at curbing trouble. Unveri ed reports have put the riots death toll in the hundreds or even at over 1,000.
At the time of the unrest, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that if the government hadn’t increased fuel prices the country would have been forced to become a net importer of petrol. Such a situation would pose a big problem for Iran given the US sanctions.
Even a er the hike, Iran’s gasoline prices are among the lowest in the world.
Daily gasoline consumption in Iran was 75-76mn litres, but after the introduction of rationing quotas the gure decreased by 20mn litres.
Iran built re ning capacity, lately upgraded to Euro-5 standard, a er su ering gasoline short- ages during previous rounds of sanctions applied before the 2015 nuclear deal. ™
Tanzania’s energy minister says fuel stocks are growing
TANZANIA
The country has a surplus to cover 26 days of demand.
TANZANIA has made concrete progress in its e orts to expand domestic petroleum product stocks, according to Energy Minister Medard Kalemani.
Speaking at an awards ceremony for PUMA Energy Tanzania’s fuel retailers, Kalemani said that fuel inventories were now large enough to sustain up to two months of consumption. “As we are speaking now, the country has a surplus of 197mn litres of diesel to sustain local con- sumers’ demand for 26 days, 97.2mn litres of petrol that can meet the demand for 38 days and some 130mn litres of jet fuel for 58 days,” he was quoted as saying by Tanzania Daily News.
e minister described these gures as evi- dence that reforms backed by Tanzanian Pres- ident John Magufuli were e ective. e reform programme provided for the establishment of a new system for bulk procurement of re ned fuels, he said.
Tanzanian ports are now capable of handling up to 255,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of petroleum products, he added. Dar Es Salaam has the capac- ity to import 165,000 tpy of fuel, while Tanga and Mtwara can import 45,000 tpy each, he said.
Kalemani went on to say that Tanzania had actually reduced the volume of kerosene in its domestic inventories from 800,000 litres to 600,000 litres. The country does not need to store as much kerosene as it used to do because demand for this type of fuel is dropping, he noted. Many of the consumers who once used kerosene have now established connections to electricity networks with help from the Rural Energy Agency (REA) or have started using solar energy, he explained.
e minister went on to say that the expan- sion of fuel reserves would benefit PUMA Energy, which is 50% state-owned, by ensuring its ability to satisfy consumer demand. He also urged the company to build new retail outlets in Tanzania’s rural areas.
“[ e] company should think of penetrat- ing up-country hinterlands to open lling sta- tions in [the] Katavi, Mara and Simiyu regions, among others, because that is where most Tan- zanians live,” he said. Doing so will “add more revenue to the company and [deliver] more taxes and dividends to the government,” he commented. ™
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