The report, which was released on Friday by a Special Committee of Oil Marketing Companies and Stakeholders under the Bulk Oil Procurement System (BPS), shows that there are three areas where theft takes place, one being from the vessels themselves.
The pipeline system also provides an opening for oil thieves to operate. And then, the pipeline is linked with vessels to many terminals and storage terminals which avail loopholes for thieves.
In this trend, the loser is none other than the end user, that is, the consumer of oil who has to bear the burden of the huge losses, the report points out.
From the study carried out by a committee set up by Petroleum Importation Coordinator (PIC) Ltd, it has been established that between December 2011 and November 2014, Tanzanians incurred a loss of 30,000 metric tonnes of fuel worth $28 million (Sh51 billion).
“The government began to implement the BPS in 2011 in order to improve import system. It is true vessel waiting time has been cut down significantly, reducing demurrage costs while premiums have also come down. Losses have been reduced slightly but the end user continues to pay dearly.
Some vessels have suffered losses of 2.6 per cent of their oil, which is a way over the acceptable level,” reads the report, adding:
“New pipework and manifolds have been installed without proper planning. Storage tanks at some terminals are not calibrated accurately and have malfunctioning valves.”
The report also shows that most of the valves connected with the discharge system of the terminals are loose, causing leakage of oil and regular discharges of water that in turn cause theft of petroleum.
The report further reveals incidences of ineffective safety and security that have contributed significantly to huge losses of petroleum.
The monthly templates of the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura), according to the report, do not reflect the true value because of such huge losses.
The report gives several recommendations to improve the BPS under the Petroleum Importation Coordinator, one being to emulate the Kenyan system; whereby there is a single petroleum storage, discharge and distribution system.
According to the Committee, this will make it easier for the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to collect revenues and taxes from fuel.
Secondly, the committee recommends that stakeholders should establish a joint security company and that a joint agreement must be signed between Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and TIPER on the security and operations of storage and pipeline system.
Other recommendations include: installation of electronic monitoring system for the entire pipeline system which can be shared by oil marketing companies while TPA and TIPER, PIC must appoint a consultant to audit performance of inspectors and terminals. Furthermore PIC must arrange training on petroleum losses and Ewura should deploy a consultant to offer advice on how to put in place a proper layout of BPS infrastructure.
It is also recommended that Weights and Measure Agency (WMA) should not calibrate and verify tanks and instead they should remain as verifiers. This WMA recommendation was put forward because several tanks were found without calibration, thus allowing for inaccurate measurement of oil.
The bulk oil procurement system was introduced in August 2011 with a view to streamlining processes of importation of petroleum so as to minimise costs. By then, it was believed that BPS was an efficient and effective fuel procurement system and the government warned oil dealers to comply with the new one.
The system was introduced after prolonged criticism of the system, with some stakeholders noting that the new oil procurement plan should wait for the completion of necessary facilities and infrastructure.
For a long time oil dealers had been expressing concern over the bulk procurement system, but the government stood its ground, describing their arguments as unrealistic.
For their part, the oil dealers said that infrastructure at the ports, particularly Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ), could not accommodate vessels.
They have also been asserting that introduction of bulk fuel importing system should only take off after completion of the modernisation of the Single Point Mooring (SPM) so that the system could enjoy the economy of scale to the fullest.
The Citizen
No comments:
Post a Comment