Page 10 - DMEA Week 13 2020

DMEA STORAGE DMEA
Malawi hopes to expand fuel storage capacity by 50%
MALAWI
The National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) is gearing up to expand its fuel storage network.
THE National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) is gearing up to expand its fuel stor- age network, according to a high-ranking com- pany representative.
Hellen Mbuluma, NOCMA’s deputy CEO, told the Parliamentary committee on Commis- sions, Statutory Corporations and Estate Enter- prises last week that the state-owned firm was capable of storing up to 60mn litres of petroleum products. NOCMA needs additional capacity to ensure that it can cover domestic demand in the long run, so it has drawn up an expansion pro- gramme that calls for raising the ceiling by 50%, she said.
“Currently, we have 60mn litres of fuel reserves for both diesel and petrol in all the three reserves situated in all the regions [that] are always operational,” she was quoted as say- ing by the Nyasa Times. “But due to increase in demand, [this] will cost us about MWK3.5bn [$4.8mn]. The project will be revenue-based but will consult commercial banks in terms of infrastructure.”
Eventually, she added, NAMCO hopes to push the fuel storage network’s capacity up to 90mn litres. This is in line with the requirements of the Southern Africa Development Commu- nity (SADC), an organisation that counts Malawi among its members, she noted.
Mbuluma did not say when the company
might begin work on the expansion programme. But she did state that NAMCO intended to add another 10mn litres of capacity at the Kanengo storage depot at Lilongwe.
She was speaking after leading members of the committee had gone on a tour of the Matindi fuel storage depot in Blantyre. Isaac Kaneka, the chairman of the committee, said after the tour that NOCMA had given a credible demon- stration of its readiness to meet domestic fuel demand.
“This tour has come barely days after meeting NOCMA officials in Parliament. We were not convinced enough and that is why we decided to come to see if they really meant what they said, and we are very much impressed,” he was quoted as saying by the Nyasa Times. “There is enough reserve for the critical commodity, and everything seems to be in place.”
NOCMA typically stores about 18mn litres of diesel and 7mn litres of gasoline at the Mat- indi depot in Blantyre and similar volumes at the Kanengo facility in Lilongwe. Its third depot, which lies in Mzuzu, can hold 10mn litres of diesel and gasoline. According to the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA), these storage sites hold enough fuel to cover the coun- try’s consumption of gasoline for 43 days and diesel for 83 days. ™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 13 02•April•2020