The Mozambican Association of Fuel Companies (AMEPETROL) has assured citizens that the country has sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel to supply the market for the next three months.
AMEPETROL was responding to the long queues of vehicles that had built up outside Maputo petrol stations, after rioters who profess loyalty to exiled presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane had erected barricades on many main roads, making it difficult for trucks, including fuel tankers, to move.
Following the riots on Wednesday, many petrol stations in Maputo closed, rather than risk seeing their stocks of fuel go up in smoke. Those that remained open were subject to a wave of panic buying, as motorists rushed to fill up their tanks.
But the problem was not an absolute shortage of fuel, but the practical difficulties of moving it from the fuel deposits to the petrol pumps.
An AMEPETROL release stressed that it remains committed to supplying and distributing fuel despite the current security challenges on the roads.
“Right now, the country has stocks for 23 days, so there’s no risk of a fuel shortage, quite apart from the ships that are on their way to the country to resupply it”, said the release.
But AMEPETROL recognised that the fuel distributors are facing difficulties in operating the petrol stations due to the lack of security “which has limited our operations and caused delays in restocking”.
AMEPETROL guaranteed that it is working in close partnership with the government, public institutions, and our suppliers. “This collaboration”, it said, “has been fundamental in overcoming the difficulties and ensuring that fuel reaches all those who depend on it safely and efficiently”.
The National Director of Hydrocarbons and Fuel, in the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, Moises Paulino, was even more optimistic, putting the level of fuel stocks available at three months worth.
Interviewed by Radio Mozambique, he said there is no fuel shortage, merely difficulties in moving fuel from the oceanic terminals to the petrol stations.
But fuel supply “is not an island”, Paulino warned, and was inevitably affected by the rioting. During the riots, about 100 petrol pumps were vandalised.
