The company Petróleos de Moçambique (Petromoc) has three projects underway to reactivate fuel storage tanks in Cabo Delgado (Pemba), Nampula (Nacala) and Maputo province (Matola), in order to manage price fluctuations on the international market for longer.
According to Petromoc's Chairman of the Board of Directors, Hélder Chambisse, the Pemba tank has more than doubled its capacity; the Nacala tank is being modernized; and the three Matola tanks will allow for the storage of 140 million liters of fuel.
"Petromoc has three projects underway, one of which involves increasing capacity at the Pemba terminal. We expect to reopen the Pemba terminal in the first half of next year. We have more than doubled the capacity, from 7,000 to 17,000 [liters]. We are investing in the Nacala terminal, to modernize it in terms of processing, handling, receiving and delivering fuel. And then, most importantly, we are investing in the Matola terminal. As of the end of this year, we plan to reoperate three tanks that we have, which have been inoperable since the 1980s. These three tanks alone will make it possible to replace 140 million liters in terms of capacity," he revealed.
The information was given today during an interview with Televisão de Moçambique in Ricatlha, Marracuene, where the 58th edition of the Maputo International Fair (FACIM) is taking place.
He said, however, that this increase in capacity will allow Mozambique to be a hub for fuel reserves and transit to interland countries, without jeopardizing domestic supplies.
"It allows us not only to manage the supply to the domestic market, but also to our sister companies, essentially the transit of fuels to the interland, without, of course, compromising the domestic market. These three projects will make it possible to manage this quantity of fuel without any constraints on local supply, and then also make it possible to manage price fluctuations," he said.
He recalled the challenges Mozambique went through to keep fuel prices stable while price volatility prevailed on the international market. "Even so, it was an important milestone to guarantee the products without allowing stock-outs."
He said that the company's current focus is to prioritize the expansion of supply infrastructures, because they play a key role in managing the country's strategic fuel reserves.
He explained that Petromoc's main objectives are to ensure the availability of oil products to the market and to make its operations more profitable by expanding its gas stations.
"As a state-owned company, it also plays an important role in what we call the geographical objective. The government has been implementing the geographic incentive program, through FUNAE [the Energy Fund], which includes the construction of filling stations in remote areas. Petromoc currently supplies 110 filling stations under the FUNAE geographic incentive. Throughout the country, Petromoc has a total of 2020 fuel stations," he said.
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