 |
| Mr Kaguo |
The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) has
admitted that there are pockets of fuel shortage in some areas of the country
due to disruption of the distribution system.
The regulator said last month only one ship with fuel for domestic consumption berthed at Kurasini Oil Jet (KOJ) instead of six because priority was given to transit fuel, heavy furnace oil and fuel that was delivered to Tanesco's power generation.
EWURA's Manager for Communications and Public Relations, Mr Titus
Kaguo, said the economy was running on the reserved stocks of fuel since
August, but it was depleted this month and led to shortages, especially in
remote areas.
"The ships jumped berthing allocation and priority was given to
transit consignments and fuel for power generation, Mr Kaguo told the 'Daily
News' yesterday, promising that "the situation will normalise in a couple
of days."
He said reports from Songea in Ruvuma Region had it that fuel stocks
were exhausted due to low delivery.The Petroleum Importation Coordinator (PIC)
General Manager, Mr Michael Mjinja, said in the last two weeks, five vessels
discharged fuel for local consumption and the situation was likely to improve
soon.
"Five tankers with an average of 37 tonnes each, have discharged
fuel in less than two weeks," Mr Mjinja said.He, however, said they were
currently comparing notes with EWURA to verify delivery.
PIC is coordinating the
bulk procurement and deliveries according to orders placed by wholesale
clients. The clients'requirements and their storage capacity differed.
The Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) has distanced itself with fuel
shortages, saying the port is 100 per cent efficient and off-loading was going
on at the normal pace.TPA officials said on Monday, motorists in Dar es Salaam
experienced fuel shortage, but that had nothing to do with efficiency at the
port.
TPA's Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Franklin Mziray, said the
Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ) was operating efficiently.
"TPA is not the cause
of the fuel supply disruption. We are not responsible for the shortage as KOJ
is efficient at 100 per cent," Mr Mziray told the 'Daily News'.
He said at the moment (yesterday) a ship namely Alpine Moment was
berthed at KOJ discharging 22,373 tonnes of diesel gas oil and 14,980 tonnes of
gasoline while another vessel, Pacific Jewelry released 19,719 tonnes of diesel
gas oil and 17,747 tonnes of Jet A1 fuel for domestic consumption.
The tankers were carrying consignments for Total, Puma, Oilcom, TIPER,
Engen Petroleum Tanzania, Gapco Tanzania and MGS International.
"In the
last few days, three vessels has offloaded local fuel at KOJ," Mr Mziray
said and that the Single Point Mooring (SPM) was scheduled to start operation
on November 1 .
The US$ 70 million expansion project of SPM will triple delivery
capacity at the port because of its ability to receive tankers with the
capacity of 100,000 tonnes to cut down the ships' dwelling time and berth
allocation priority. KOJ has ability to receive 50,000 tonnes at a go.
The country is currently estimated to consume 350,000 tonnes of fuel
per month, out of which 65 per cent is diesel gas oil, 25 per cent gasoline, 10
per cent kerosene and JetA fuel.
Source: The Daily News,http://www.dailynews.co.tz, reported by Abduel Elinaza in Dar es Salaam
0 comments :
Post a Comment