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- Dec 9, 2009
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BP ceases its Tanzania operationsBy The Citizen Reporter and Agencies
BP Africa�s Chief Executive Sipho Maseko announced on Tuesday that BP was quitting the Tanzanian market following a strategy review that would see it concentrate all its efforts in strategic countries such as Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt and Libya. Except South Africa, the rest are oil and/or gas producing countries. BP has also ceased operations in Namibia, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana.
�I would like to stress that BP is and will stay committed to Africa,� BP Africa�s Chief Executive Sipho Maseko said in a statement released on Tuesday. �We have significant operations in Angola, Mozambique and South Africa and in Algeria, Egypt and Libya. We will continue to grow and invest in those markets, especially in the value chain infrastructure,� he had added.
The decision is likely to affect Tanzania�s petroleum marketing industry as the company has often played a significant and pioneering role. But to what extent that effect will play itself out cannot now be established now. Until recently, BP Tanzania has had a 35 per cent market share in both the retail and service stations and about 70 per cent in aviation. In Zanzibar it has been controlling the aviation fuel market by about 100 per cent.
The director general of the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority Mr Haruna Masebu declined to comment on how BP�s decision would affect the downstream petroleum industry in Tanzania. He said Ewura had not received any notification on BP�s decision and until that notification was received it would be premature to say anything. �We will ultimately comment on BP�s decision but we have not yet received any official communications on the matter.
Talking about it now would be just speculating,� he told The Citizen in an interview yesterday in Dar es Salaam. He however observed that since the company was a joint venture between BP group and the Tanzanian government, their departure would not translate into complete shut down in the country.
Mr Masebu said that BP has already notified the Tanzanian government and other governments included in the pullout but when contacted the Tanzanian government officials said they were still unaware of the issue. Mr Prosper Victus, Head of Petroleum and Gas Section at the ministry of Energy and Minerals, said he had not seen any official documents concerning the issue.
�I am not aware of the issue. The ministry might have been informed already but the information is not yet on our desk,� he told The Citizen by phone yesterday. The ministry's acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Invocavit Swai, was in a meeting when reached yesterday and he could not comment on the issue.
The minister of Energy and Minerals Mr William Ngeleja could not be reached as his phone went unanswered and could not reply to a text message sent to him from The Citizen. However, the deputy minister for Energy and Minerals Adam Malima was quoted by a section of the online media saying he was also not aware of the move.
BP Tanzania is among some 40 oil marketing and trading companies in Tanzania with Addax, Mobil, Total, Oryx, Engen, GAPCO, GAPOIL and Oilcom Tanzania Limited being the market leaders.
In the seven southern African countries of Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, BP�s downstream infrastructure includes some 29 depots and terminals, and more than 800 retail sites. Apart from fuel and lubricants, BP Tanzania has also been selling liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for over forty years. It used to monopolise the market until the entry of Agip after the construction of a refinery, Tipper, in 1964.
To date BP and Agip Tanzania Limited (which has since been sold to ADDAX and operates as Oryx Tanzania Limited) are the leading players. BP Tanzania has also an organisation that deals in solar energy under a project that covers upcountry regions. BP has also had a large stake in the transit petroleum business through the port of Dar es Salaam to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC Congo, Zambia and Malawi.
BP Tanzania traces its roots back in 1900 when Smith MacKenzie started importing kerosene to the island of Zanzibar as Shell agent A bulk tank and kerosene-can filling plant was established in 1901, and for a while Zanzibar supplied oil to much of the east coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. Shell expanded to the Mainland and with the formation of the Consolidated Petroleum Corporation in the late 1920s, BP acquired an interest in the company.
In 1970 the Government of Tanzania bought a 50 per cent interest in what was then Shell and BP Tanzania Limited. In March 1982, BP bought out Shell�s interests and the company became BP Tanzania Limited. Ends
chanzo : citizen
BP Africa�s Chief Executive Sipho Maseko announced on Tuesday that BP was quitting the Tanzanian market following a strategy review that would see it concentrate all its efforts in strategic countries such as Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt and Libya. Except South Africa, the rest are oil and/or gas producing countries. BP has also ceased operations in Namibia, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana.
�I would like to stress that BP is and will stay committed to Africa,� BP Africa�s Chief Executive Sipho Maseko said in a statement released on Tuesday. �We have significant operations in Angola, Mozambique and South Africa and in Algeria, Egypt and Libya. We will continue to grow and invest in those markets, especially in the value chain infrastructure,� he had added.
The decision is likely to affect Tanzania�s petroleum marketing industry as the company has often played a significant and pioneering role. But to what extent that effect will play itself out cannot now be established now. Until recently, BP Tanzania has had a 35 per cent market share in both the retail and service stations and about 70 per cent in aviation. In Zanzibar it has been controlling the aviation fuel market by about 100 per cent.
The director general of the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority Mr Haruna Masebu declined to comment on how BP�s decision would affect the downstream petroleum industry in Tanzania. He said Ewura had not received any notification on BP�s decision and until that notification was received it would be premature to say anything. �We will ultimately comment on BP�s decision but we have not yet received any official communications on the matter.
Talking about it now would be just speculating,� he told The Citizen in an interview yesterday in Dar es Salaam. He however observed that since the company was a joint venture between BP group and the Tanzanian government, their departure would not translate into complete shut down in the country.
Mr Masebu said that BP has already notified the Tanzanian government and other governments included in the pullout but when contacted the Tanzanian government officials said they were still unaware of the issue. Mr Prosper Victus, Head of Petroleum and Gas Section at the ministry of Energy and Minerals, said he had not seen any official documents concerning the issue.
�I am not aware of the issue. The ministry might have been informed already but the information is not yet on our desk,� he told The Citizen by phone yesterday. The ministry's acting Permanent Secretary, Mr Invocavit Swai, was in a meeting when reached yesterday and he could not comment on the issue.
The minister of Energy and Minerals Mr William Ngeleja could not be reached as his phone went unanswered and could not reply to a text message sent to him from The Citizen. However, the deputy minister for Energy and Minerals Adam Malima was quoted by a section of the online media saying he was also not aware of the move.
BP Tanzania is among some 40 oil marketing and trading companies in Tanzania with Addax, Mobil, Total, Oryx, Engen, GAPCO, GAPOIL and Oilcom Tanzania Limited being the market leaders.
In the seven southern African countries of Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, BP�s downstream infrastructure includes some 29 depots and terminals, and more than 800 retail sites. Apart from fuel and lubricants, BP Tanzania has also been selling liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for over forty years. It used to monopolise the market until the entry of Agip after the construction of a refinery, Tipper, in 1964.
To date BP and Agip Tanzania Limited (which has since been sold to ADDAX and operates as Oryx Tanzania Limited) are the leading players. BP Tanzania has also an organisation that deals in solar energy under a project that covers upcountry regions. BP has also had a large stake in the transit petroleum business through the port of Dar es Salaam to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC Congo, Zambia and Malawi.
BP Tanzania traces its roots back in 1900 when Smith MacKenzie started importing kerosene to the island of Zanzibar as Shell agent A bulk tank and kerosene-can filling plant was established in 1901, and for a while Zanzibar supplied oil to much of the east coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean islands. Shell expanded to the Mainland and with the formation of the Consolidated Petroleum Corporation in the late 1920s, BP acquired an interest in the company.
In 1970 the Government of Tanzania bought a 50 per cent interest in what was then Shell and BP Tanzania Limited. In March 1982, BP bought out Shell�s interests and the company became BP Tanzania Limited. Ends
chanzo : citizen