Maravi

Indeni fuel stock still desperate

Indeni fuel stock still desperate
Written by George Chellah
Friday, June 12, 2009 8:25:23 PM

THE current fuel stocks at Indeni Oil Refinery still remain desperate, Ministry of Energy sources have disclosed. And the sources said energy permanent secretary Peter Mumba was being economical with the truth on the fuel stocks in the country. The sources on Friday revealed that the situation at Indeni has not improved in a way.

"You know, hearing the permanent secretary speak the other day was quite laughable. We all know at the ministry that the situation at Indeni currently is very different from the picture Mr. Mumba was painting," the sources said.

"Mr. Mumba was even saying that he would resign if there is a fuel shortage knowing very well that in between they can import fuel to mitigate the looming crisis."

The sources revealed that officials from Indeni have been meeting Ministry of Energy officials in Lusaka to try and find the way forward on the matter.

"They are trying to convince the Indeni officials to assist them import fuel. Mr. Mumba knows the truth, which is that the current stocks are not sufficient. We will only mitigate the situation if they import. In the worst case scenario they just want to import fuel quietly so that they convince the public that they have enough stocks. When in actual sense the situation is that the stocks have depleted at Indeni," the sources explained.

"Anyway the problem is the permanent secretary is only told what to say. If you want go to Indeni today and you will find those trucks from Kenya that come to load Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) marooned. If they have enough like Mr. Mumba is claiming why don't they load those trucks and clear them?"

The sources further revealed that following Mumba's statement, a management meeting was convened on Thursday in the technical conference room at Indeni.

"We are told at the ministry that the management at Indeni met to discuss this same matter and we are told that the same meeting was chaired by the operations manager. They were trying to come up with a position on how to handle possible queries from the media particularly The Post if at all you asked them on what Mr. Mumba had said in comparison to what was written earlier by your newspaper," the sources said.

"And they resolved that since the boss (Mr. Mumba) was being economical with the truth, the best way is to refer any queries back to us at the Ministry of Energy or Tazama so that they neither lie nor tell the truth. Indeni has pushed it back to us to be answering all questions pertaining to what is going on."

And when contacted on the fuel stocks situation at the refinery, Indeni public relations officer Mwila Nkonge referred all queries to the Tanzania Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) pipelines managing director Largeman Muzelenga.

"I can't give you anything on that, you can contact Tazama," Nkonge said.

But Muzelenga said Mumba's statement was the correct position.

"The PS issued a statement and that's the correct data. I can confirm that we gave the PS that data," he said.

Asked why there were contradictions in the stocks given by the permanent secretary and energy minister Kenneth Konga since Tazama was the source of the data, Muzelenga responded: "Well, I don't know which contradictions because we gave the information which was correct data."

When reminded that the stocks Konga gave earlier where different from the ones Mumba announced, Muzelenga said he could not comment.

"I just came in the office yesterday. I was not around I was in Dar-es-salaam. I only came on Wednesday. I am not aware of the other statement... I am not aware of the minister's statement myself."

On Wednesday, Mumba pledged to resign if the current delayed docking of the 90,000 metric tonnes of feedstock from Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) of Kuwait leads to a fuel shortage in the country.

He said the country had enough fuel stocks to last up to about the first week of July, 12 days after the expected time of the docking of the current consignment -the eighth in a row of 16 cargoes to be delivered under the two-year

"As of this morning, the correct fuel stock position in the country according to the amount of finished products that Tazama has, there is enough Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) to last up to 26th June, 2009; unleaded petrol to last up to 4th July, 2009; kerosene to last up to 5th August, 2009 and Jet A1 up to 2nd July, 2009," Mumba explained. "As regards diesel, we have enough to last 8th July, 2009 and heavy fuel oil (HFO) to last up to 13th August, 2009."

Mumba's figures were however contrary to last week's statement by energy minister Kenneth Konga when he confirmed the shutdown at Indeni Oil Refinery owing to insufficient crude stocks needed for processing.

Konga said it was true that the crude oil that the country were expecting to dock in Dar-es-Salaam last week had delayed, but the ship was expected to dock between June 7 and 11.

Konga disclosed that the country had 62 days' stock of petrol, 33 days of diesel and kerosene stocks to last 67 days, while A1 jet fuel would suffice for the next 45 days.

Labels: FUEL, INDENI, MWILA NKONGA, PETER MUMBA

posted by MrK @ 7:29 PM