(NYASATIMES) Qatar to fund Beira-Malawi oil pipeline

Qatar to fund Beira-Malawi oil pipeline
25 January, 2009 01:11:00

Qatar will finance the building of an oil pipeline linking Mozam-bique’s Indian Ocean port of Beira in Sofala province to Malawi’s lower Shire Valley district of Nsanje and work will now commence since the deal was struck one year now by a Malawi delegation led by Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe.

Nyasa Times has also learnt that Qatar will again fund building of a fuel storage depot.

A project to construct power transmission lines from the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam to Malawi, with World Bank funding, was recently unveiled.

A study into the feasibility of a multi- million-dollar fuel pipeline undertaken by Qatari firm Vanessia Petroleum –produced favourable results, and the Malawi government is optimistic that implementation of the project will commence soon.

The project, which will take will take 36 months to complete, will comprise the pipeline and an oil storage facility that is expected to boost Malawi's reserves to 90 days.

Currently, the country can hold only a 10-day reserve.When completed, te project will slash the cost of transporting imported liquid fuel from the coast to the landlocked Southern African country.

Malawi Finance Minister says: “The information we have so far indicates that the project is feasible. We will soon engage in talks with the Mozambican government, through whose territory the pipeline is expected to pass, on how best the project can be carried out. “We hope the negotiations will be completed soon to allow the project to commence.”

Gondwe says Vanessia Petroleum has pledged to spend $150-million on laying the pipeline and building fuel storage facility at Nsanje, which will also be the port of call for the proposed Shire–Zambezi waterway project.

He says the Qatari firm will manage the pipeline and storage facilities under the build, operate and transfer model.

The fuel storage facility will enable Malawi – which currently has the capacity to hold oil stocks to last ten days only – to hold enough oil to last about 90 days.

Currently, Malawi transports its fuel by road from the ports of Dar-es-Salaam, in Tanzania, Nacala, in Mozambique, and Durban, in South Africa, and “the high cost of fuel in the country” is partly blamed on this relatively expensive mode of transport.- (Additional reporting Creamer Media and Macauhub)