Ewura allays fears of fuels shortage in election period

Dodoma. The oil trade regulatory authority says it has ordered the procurement of fuel by a state agency to ensure supplies of the commodity during the forthcoming elections.

The revelation comes in the wake of reports, including in Dar es Salaam, of fuel shortages among some retailers. The government recently accused oil companies of orchestrating market shortages and an ordered investigation that saw several top oiol executives arrested for questioning.

The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) said yesterday that the government has ordered for two gasoline tankers to cushion any possible shortage during campaigns.

Ewura’s public relations manager Titus Kaguo said in Dodoma yesterday that the regulator has directed the Petroleum Bulk Procurement Agency (PBPA) to import the fuel next month to avert any possible shortage during the electioneering period.

Mr Kaguo said it was Ewura’s responsibility to ensure that the country had enough fuel so as to enable political parties’ candidates to traverse the country in their hunt for votes and for economic and social life to continue uninterrupted.

“Whoever comes in between and creates an artificial shortage of fuel will be treated as someone who is against us. We will regard him as someone whose intention is to disrupt the conduct of our elections. We will not allow that to happen,” he said.

Fear for oil shortages are not uncommon during campaigns and poll periods in Tanzania.

In 2015, a decision to avert a possible oil shortage during that year’s elections saw consumers pay an inflated pump price that was above prevailing market rates, elliciting complaints of insider dealing to profiteer from the imports.

The then Petroleum Importation Coordinator (PIC) handpicked Augusta Energy SA to import oil on a premium price that saw consumers digging deeper into their pockets to pay for the exorbitant pricing.

The sum in question was a staggering $9,040,840.756 (about Sh20.7 billion at the then prevailing rate) in additional $20.596 premium per metric tonne.

Despite warnings from Ewura, PIC went ahead and handpicked the supplier for the job in a deal that was highly questionable.

The contract put the Weighted Average Premium at $64.911 per metric tonne of petroleum products.

That was $20.596 more than the Weighted Average Premium of $44.315 per metric tonne which was signed by PIC and the very same Augusta Energy SA in the preceding shipping and supply contract.

But yesterday, Mr Kaguo said the current challenges associated with oil availability in some places in Tanzania were a result of Covid-19 pandemic which had slightly reduced the volume of productive undertakings in the country. As a result, he said demand for oil in Tanzania reduced by two percent and seven percent in March and April respectively. This also resulted into a slight drop in fuel importation.

He said, however, that soon after the government opened the country to all productive undertakings, demand for oil rose by seven and 12 percent in June and July respectively.

“Basically, the oil being sold in the country is from the consignment that was imported two months back.

“The consignment sold in June was actually imported in April. At that time, demand was low and therefore, even the imported volume was lower compared to current demand,” he said.

He however said that on July 13, 2020, the government imported some 28 million litres of oil. Another tanker, carrying 86.6 million litres of oil will arrive in the country at anytime between July 27 and August 3.

“This will be enough for Tanzania’s demand for a period of 28 days,” he said.

On August 10, a tanker carrying 67 million litres of oil will arrive in the country.