Govt tap into reserves as fuel shortages bite

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Thursday December 16, 2010 00:00

 

A statement from the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources says the shortfall will be offset with supplies of an estimated five million litres per week from Mozambique and eight million litres from South Africa that is expected before the end of this week. 

The supply is expected to ease rationing by fuel suppliers between their commercial and retail customers as some filling stations have already been running dry on unleaded petrol and diesel.

The government has taken measures to ensure that essential economic activities and critical services will continue to run. On Tuesday this week, the government authorised the release of over five million litres of diesel and 374, 000 litres of petrol from its strategic reserve stocks to be supplied to essential and critical services throughout the country.

The statement says two major multi-national oil companies in South Africa, Engen and Sasol, had planned shutdowns on their refineries for maintenance from October 2010.

The Sasol refinery is now operational while the Engen refinery is still out of operation and is anticipated to come back on stream around February 2011. Most local oil supply companies get their products from the Tarlton depot, which is the termination of the big Durban-Gauteng fuel pipeline that has experienced reduced operational capacity.

The unavailability of products from the refineries and the reduced capacity of the pipeline by almost 80 percent are reported to have resulted in reduced supply into Botswana since the end of October.

'Fuel supplies have slowly been reducing, with the week beginning 6th December being the worst so far,' reads the statement. These constraints have resulted in a shortfall of approximately 42 percent to Botswana.

Meanwhile, the statement says essential economic activities and critical services include power stations, hospitals, security services, the Central Transport Organisation (CTO) and mines.

The public is encouraged to use available petroleum resources prudently, employ fuel-saving measures and desist from stockpiling fuel and panic-buying as this could make the situation worse. The fuel shortage has come at the wrong time of the year as Batswana are known to be avid travellers over the Christmas season. Some motorists who have planned to travel are already expressing fears that they might have to cancel their intended journeys.

One Emmanuel Lobinda had planned a trip to Kasane with his girlfriend. 'I had already prepared everything,' he says. 'I just finished servicing my car only to hear that petrol is running short. I hope they restore the situation soon so that we may travel as planned.'

The Manager of Engen Bontleng, Khalil Kablay, says they have also been briefed about the fuel situation but so far have not experienced any major shortage. 'We heard there is shortage of supply, but we have not run dry on any day,' he says. 'With petrol we are okay, but our diesel is low.'

This is not the first time Botswana is facing fuel shortages this year. A strike by dock and transport workers in South Africa resulted in serious shortages in winter, prompting the government to explore other routes in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, which is now being tapped into.