Fuel shortage in Dar to end soon
CHARLES KIZIGHA
Daily News; Monday,January 12, 2009 @20:50
FUEL shortage at various pump stations in the country might end soon, following arrival of tankers at the Dar es Salaam port. Four oil tankers are at the Dar es Salaam harbour loaded with about 80,000 tonnes of petroleum products that are expected to meet the nation's demand for about a month.
BP and GAPCO have reportedly informed the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) that petrol stocks were running out. Engen pump stations run out of fuel over the weekend. Several petrol filling stations in Dar es Salaam witnessed long queues of motorists over the weekend, raising fears of imminent transport crisis.
The GAPCO Chief Operating Officer, Mr Krishna Pradrai, confirmed that the company had run out of petrol stocks since last weekend and was expecting to receive new stocks later this week. He said that a vessel MT Wawasan was at the outer anchorage carrying some 10,000 tonnes of petrol which would be shared by some four or five companies.
"It is unfortunate that the tanker will get into the port by January 16 (on Friday) to discharge the products. January 16 is just an indication date. I am not sure when the vessel will berth," he said. This means dealers of GAPCO will not get petrol until the vessel discharges fuel.
The BP Managing Director, Mr Engenlhard Kongoro, said that he was not aware of any shortage of fuel at his depot or pump stations supplied by his company, but said he would check on that.
The Managing Director of Engen, Mr Seelan Naidoo, whose pump stations in Mbezi and Mikocheni had run out of fuel, said the stocks supplied last Friday were exhausted because there was a rush at those points. "We have opened the depot this afternoon (yesterday) for trucks to draw fuel. We will make arrangements for other companies which have no stocks to get them from us," he said.
One of the four tankers christened MT Atlantic carrying about 30,000 tonnes made up of 16,987 tonnes of diesel, 4,000 tonnes of petrol and 4,807 of jet fuel, is discharging at the Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ), but is said to be slow in pumping out the products. It could not be established when MT Atlantic would complete discharging, an exercise that started over the weekend.
One port official said some tankers take up to three days to discharge such cargo, because it depends on the pumping rate. Three more tankers loaded with over 50,000 tonnes of petroleum products are at the outer anchorage, waiting for their turn to berth at the KOJ.
The Director of Petroleum with Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA), Mr Sirili Massay, told the 'Daily News' that the products carried in the four tankers, about 80,000, could meet the nation's demand for a month. EWURA's petrol indicative prices for Dar es Salaam starting today increased from 1,147/- last week to 1,171/- while the cap one moved from 1,233/- to 1,259/- per litre.
Wholesale indicative price for petrol in Dar es Salaam last week was 1,084/- and that of diesel 1,207/- and the cap price for both was 1,165/- and 1,297/- respectively and will remain the same this week. The indicative price for diesel last week in Dar es Salaam was 1,270/-, this week it will be 1,301/- per litre and the cap price was 1,365/- and now 1,399/- for the same measure.