TANZANIA: ENOC AFRICA WINS ANOTHER TENDER TO IMPORT FUEL

A Tanzanian oil company, ENOC Africa, has won a tender to import fuel under the Petroleum Bulk Procurement System (BPS) for the month of October, this year.

The tender that attracted six oil companies including five foreign and international companies, was awarded to ENOC Africa after offering the lowest Weighted Average Premium per Metric Ton of 45.771 US dollars per MT.

Other companies (all international) that participated in the tender include Addax Energy SA which quoted 49.18 US dollars per MT, Augusta Energy SA (48.854 US dollars per MT) and Gapco (K) Ltd (47.543 US dollars per MT).

Speaking about the tender results at the weekend of which the company will import 299,872 Metric Tons of fuel, Petroleum Importation Coordinator (PIC) General Manager, Michael Mjinja, said ENOC Africa was pronounced the winner after meeting all the tender requirements and proving that its offer would benefit the country, traders and consumers.

"Among the six oil companies, only four returned the tender documents and finally the winner (ENOC Africa) was picked. ENOC Africa is the only locally registered company and the consignment it will import will be enough to serve the country for a period of one month and two weeks," he said.

Mr Mjinja said it was delighting to see local companies like ENOC Africa coming up to pose a challenge to giant foreign international oil companies which had previously dominated the sector by frequently winning such tenders.

"BPS is the most transparent way of public procurement where the winning bidder is decided in the open before representatives of all bidders, everyone endorses the winning bidder," said Mr. Mjinja.

ENOC Africa will import 156,863 MT of Automotive Gas & Oils (AGO), 115,490MT of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS - gasoline), 26,269MT of Jet A1 and 1,250MT of Kerosene.

"With the transparent manner in which the winning bidder is picked, oil marketing companies are satisfied with the process. They do accept decisions made openly and unanimously in picking the winning bidder," said Mr Minja.

When contacted via phone on Monday, the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) Head of Communication and Public Relations, Titus Kaguo said that BPS has proved to be a system which both consumers and suppliers are happy with and has helped lowered pump prices for fuel, increased government revenue and restored some sanity in the oil trading business.

"The system has helped in improving quality of petroleum products, stabilized cup prices, improved taxation and has helped to reduce demurrages at the port.

Apart from transparency and increasing government revenue, the BPS has also assisted the country to save foreign currency used to purchase petroleum products," he said.

ENOC Africa, which recently expressed its intention to heavily invest in storage facilities in Tanzania and neighbouring countries, has proved its ability to ensure sustainability in oil supply in Tanzania by winning the tender for the third time. Tanzania consumes about 1.54 million cubic meters per annum of petroleum products.

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