Page 7 - AfrElec Week 35
P. 7
AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec
Sudan produces. As such, they have the poten- tial to give the former country enormous lever- age over the latter, especially since the latter is landlocked.
Downstream
Meanwhile, Sudan’s largest working oil re n- ery is located about 70km north of Khartoum. Equity in the plant is split 50:50 between CNPC and Sudan’s Ministry of Energy and Mining.
e facility has a design capacity of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, and it can process oil from elds in Sudan and South Sudan. It is capable of turning out more than enough fuel to meet domestic demand in Sudan, but only if it
receives adequate feedstock from both Sudanese and South Sudanese elds.
e country’s second re nery is smaller, a 21,700 bpd facility on the coast of the Red Sea in Port Sudan. Al-Bashir said before his ouster that he hoped a foreign investor would agree to build a larger oil-processing plant.
In isolation, these assets are not signi cant enough to make Sudan a big attraction in its own right. But the country should not be over- looked either, even if it does produce less oil and has smaller reserves. Given its connection to and geographical and logistical leverage over South Sudan, it ought to be given close attention during the political transition period.
POLICY
Fuel prices drop slightly in Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE
ZIMBABWE’S government has slightly reduced its ceiling for motor fuel prices, marking the rst weekly decline since January 13.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Energy Regula- tory Authority (ZERA) published a weekly pric- ing schedule for gasoline and diesel, saying that the new rates would take e ect on September 2. According to the document, fuel sellers can now charge no more than ZWD10.25 ($0.0283) per litre for gasoline and ZWD9.86 ($0.0272) per litre for diesel.
Under the previous schedule, which was issued on August 26, ZERA had capped the price of gasoline at ZWD10.32 ($0.0285) per litre and diesel at ZWD10.01 ($0.0277) per litre.
e government agency explained its deci- sion to bring the price ceiling down as a con- sequence of “FOB price movements and the revised duty regime (SI 161 of 2019) applicable from September 2.” This was not necessarily revealing, since ZERA has used nearly identical phrasing in multiple pricing decrees this year.
e price cut may bring some relief to Zim- babwean consumers, who have seen motor fuel prices rise substantially over the last two years. But it does go against the wishes of Finance Min- ister Mthuli Ncube, who has said he would like motor fuel prices to be closer to $1 per litre.
Zimbabwe’s government has subsidised gas- oline, diesel and power prices to keep them far below world market levels for many years. is policy helped exacerbate shortages in the coun- try by giving local traders an incentive to smug- gle fuel bound for Zimbabwe to neighbouring countries, where it can be sold for a higher price.
ZERA recently took a tentative step towards correcting the situation by introducing di erent fuel pricing schedules for di erent regions of the country.
It explained its decision by stating that it was trying to factor in the cost of trucking gasoline and diesel into di erent cities and geographical zones. Prices will now be highest in the Victoria Falls region, it added.
Week 35 04•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7
