Minister allays fears of cartels in fuel industry

Speaking in Parliament this week, he said that the local petroleum business is fully liberalised and dominated by private sector players through Multinational Oil Companies (MOC) in terms of infrastructural ownership and product sales.

"The MOCs are responsible for direct procurement, marketing and distribution of petroleum products," he explained. He said licences for operating filling stations are reserved for citizens or companies wholly owned by citizens of Botswana.The minister was responding to a question from the MP for Gaborone West South, Botsalo Ntuane who feared that many indigenous Batswana might have been pushed out of filling station business.