Page 18 - DMEA Week 26

DMEA FUELS DMEA

Botswana to compensate for slowdown

in South African fuel imports

BOTSWANA MESHACK Tshekedi, the CEO of Botswana Mosetlho Kenamile, the company’s COO,
Oil Ltd (BOL), said last week that his company said at the same press briefing that he did not
South African was taking steps to compensate for a slowdown expect the slowdown in South African deliveries
companies have in petroleum product deliveries from South to cause shortages in Botswana. The country has
traditionally been BOL’s Africa. enough fuel in storage to withstand the switch to
main suppliers. Speaking to reporters in Gaborone, Tshekedi other suppliers, he said.
stated that Botswana’s government had author- “Botswana currently has a total volume stock
ised the withdrawal of 8mn litres of fuel from the capacity of 55mn litres, which would last up to 30
national reserves in order to ensure domestic weeks if the situation was dire,” he was quoted as
supplies. The state has also given BOL permis- saying by the Botswana Daily News.
sion to procure petroleum products from other In the meantime, Kenamile added, BOL is
countries, including Mozambique and Namibia, taking steps to ensure domestic supplies. It will
he said. make use of six selected trucking companies that
He explained that the government had taken have agreed to augment fuel delivery networks,
these steps because the South African companies he said. Additionally, the company is working to
that have traditionally been BOL’s main suppliers beef up its storage capacity, he stated.
had reduced exports. These firms are rationing For example, he said, BOL intends to accel-
supplies because their capacity to meet domestic erate the planned expansion of the Francistown
demand has deteriorated, he said. depot. It is also drawing up plans for the estab-
According to Tshekedi, the shift to new sup- lishment of a public-private partnership (PPP)
pliers in Namibia and Mozambique will raise to build a tank farm in Tshele Hills and is looking
the cost of transporting fuel into Botswana. BOL into the prospects for setting up another storage
has therefore asked Gaborone to allocate BWP5- facility in Ghanzi.
6mn ($430,000-510,000) to subsidise the costs of He did not reveal the timeline or the cost of
transportation, he said. these projects. ™

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 02•July•2020