Maravi

Indeni Refinery shuts down

Indeni Refinery shuts down
Written by George Chellah
Tuesday, June 09, 2009 8:49:03 PM

INDENI Oil Refinery shut down because the Zambian government has no money to procure crude oil. And Indeni Oil Refinery only has petrol and diesel to last for nine and eight days respectively.

Sources at Indeni on Tuesday disclosed that the refinery had shut down due to the Zambian government's failure to procure crude oil.

"There is nothing like delays like the minister of energy Kenneth Konga was putting it. The genuine cause of the shut down is lack of crude oil because the ship which was supposed to dock in Dar-es-Salaam recently was diverted to India," the source explained.

"The reason being that the government indicated that they have no money to pay for the crude oil that was coming at that time. Therefore, they decided that the ship goes to India where it can off load. So the bottom-line is that the government has no money to procure crude oil."

The source said there was anxiety among workers at Indeni refinery.

"Most of the workers here are actually saying that if the government is failing to procure crude oil it should give business to private individuals who can partner with the refinery so that they can procure the crude oil," the source said.

The source further gave the break down of the current stocks at the refinery.

"The stocks we have at the moment are as follows, for diesel we have stocks to last for eight days, premium or petrol its for nine days, heavy fuel oils we have stocks to last for 10 days and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) we have stocks to last for 15 days," the source said.

"So the stocks the minister was giving were not correct we don't even know where he got them. Unless BP and other oil marketing companies are authorized by the government to start importing. Otherwise they can't start now because of the excise duty on imported finished products."

The source said the refinery has taken advantage of the 15 days shut down to carry out maintenance works on vital equipment.

"The minister should have come out clearly and not what he was saying because it's not true. The stocks he gave cannot last that long unless he is saying that they will just start importing," the source said.

Recently, energy minister Konga confirmed the closure of Indeni Oil Refinery.

Konga said there was no need for the nation to panic as there were sufficient fuel stocks to last for the period of the shutdown.

"It is true that the crude oil that we were expecting to dock in Dar-es-Salaam last week has delayed, but we expect it to dock between June 7 and 11. Because of the delay, Indeni has run out of crude to process but we still have sufficient stocks," he said.

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.

"By the time the ship docks, we will still have adequate fuel stocks. The fact that Tazama (Tanzania Zambia Mafuta) stops pumping doesn't suggest that there's a shortage on the market," he said.

Labels: ECONOMY, INDENI, OIL

posted by MrK @ 7:53 PM