Page 14 - AfrOil Week 16 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

“This is against the false allegations that there is country of up to 70 to 80%, what could have hap-
no local capacity to haul fuel into the country. pened?” he said.
Therefore, Malawian transporters are able to According to The Times, PIL’s importation
transport all fuel products for the country at any of fuel has been dwindling since December
given time, such that there is no need to engage 2021, importing around 15mn litres a month
foreign transporters under the pretext of lack of as at March 2022 against the country’s monthly
local capacity. Almost 625 tankers are currently requirement of 60mn litres. In February 2021,
parked and not being used. This is loss of busi- Buluma said NOCMA was working on using
ness for Malawians in a number of ways.” rail to import fuel, arguing that this could help
Zubeir Bhana, vice chairperson of the Petro- reduce pump prices.
leum Importers Ltd (PIL), the union of local This is not the first time that NOCMA has
transporters, said the 90% share for NOCMA been under the spotlight for alleged favouritism
will crowd them out, suggesting that a 50-50 and other controversial conduct. In June 2021,
ratio is workable. He attributed recent intermit- Malawi24 alleged that the agency preferred
tent imports of the commodity to disruption in more expensive fuel suppliers to cheaper ones.
the global market and lack of foreign exchange Around that time, NOCMA had issued a
in the country, not lack of capacity on PIL’s part. notice of intention to contract Lake Oil Malawi
“Let me keep it simple: The formula to Mala- Ltd to supply 65,000 tonnes of diesel, Dalbit
wi’s fuel availability is the availability of foreign International (38,539 tonnes) and Camel Oil
exchange. No foreign exchange, no fuel,” he said. (34,414 tonnes) but did not publicise the bid
Since January 2022, NOCMA, senior official prices.
Helen Buluma said, has been transporting 80% A whistleblower, Mulotwa Mulotwa argued
of fuel imports. She disputed Gaffar’s argument that Lake Oil’s prices were higher than those
that PIL has enough capacity to finance the offered by a rival for the same route. Mulotwa
trucking. Mulotwa estimated that because of NOCMA’s
“When problems hit the country, those who choice taxpayers were to pay $18.1mn more
import fuel to make profits withdraw as you have than would have been paid had the rival trans-
seen now,” she said. “Our colleagues are saying porter been selected.
they cannot bring fuel because prices are up and “The deal is that our brokers and stakeholder
they cannot make profits but, as NOCMA, we get two thirds of the top up, plus any duplicated
do not look at profit but availability of fuel.” payments. The new guys [referring to the new
Chilenga agreed with her. “Right now, PIL government elected in June 2020] are singing
does not have foreign exchange so if we did not ‘it’s our turn to eat’, deposits were already paid
have NOCMA, which has managed to negotiate out,” Mulotwa Mulotwa posted on social media,
with an international bank to bring fuel in this according to Malawi24. ™

Rubis Energy Kenya denies that its CEO

was deported over fuel shortages

KENYA RUBIS Energy Kenya, a fuel storage and dis-
tribution company, has denied that its boss
Jean-Christian Bergeron was deported by the
East African country’s government to France
on the night of April 13.
Quoting senior government sources,
regional media outlet The Nation said that Rubis
was among several fuel distributors accused of
“having some queer shortages and rationed
sales,” which prompted Kenya’s government to
cancel Bergeron’s work permit.
Rubis said that Bergeron, the group’s manag-
ing director and CEO for East Africa, had in fact Rubis filling station (Image: Rubis Energy Kenya)
travelled to Paris on his own accord to provide
a full briefing on the situation in Kenya. “As one country,” Rubis said in an April 14 press release.
of the major players in the fuel sector, we have Rubis Energy Kenya is a subsidiary of Rubis
been responsive to requests from consumers Energie, a unit of the Paris-listed Rubis Group.
and the authorities on best operational interven- It is the third-biggest petroleum marketer in
tions to address the fuel supply constraints in the Kenya after TotalEnergies and Vivo Energies.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 16 20•April•2022