Total denies causing fuel crisis in Zambia
October 17, 2005
Lusaka - French petroleum group Total which owns part of Zambia's only oil refinery, reacted angrily on Friday to accusations it was responsible for persistent fuel shortages in the country.
Total, which manages the Indeni oil refinery, said it had warned the Zambian government of a pending crisis when the plant was closed for routine maintenance on September 8.
"We have been attacked beyond what is reasonable. It is now our time to respond to these accusations," said Momar Nguer, vice president of Total in East Africa.
"Let's all take part of the blame over this crisis," Nguer said.
The Zambian government said it was auditing the performance of the Total management at Indeni, including looking at the shareholding structure of the refinery following the unprecedented fuel crisis that has left people stranded across the country.
"We have recommended to government that the country should always have 45 days of fuel stocks in its reserves to avoid such a crisis again," Nguer told reporters.
He said Indeni owed Total $70 million (R458.5 million) in the procurement of crude oil because the refinery company had no financial capacity to import crude due to constant shut-downs at the plant.
Total and the Zambian government each have 50 percent shares in Indeni.
"We have informed government that we need to spend about 40 million dollars every year in maintaining the refinery if we are to avoid frequent closures," Nguer said.
The French ambassador to Zambia, Francis Saudubray, said it was unfortunate that Total was being blamed when the fault lay with Zambia's energy ministry.
"It's not the duty of Total to keep reserves. Every oil marketing company in Zambia should have reserves but they don't have and the blame is being put on Total," Saudubray said.
Indeni oil refinery resumed its operations this week but it is only producing diesel and kerosene.
This means that the shortages of petrol will continue until further notice, Nguer said.
The refinery closed for routine maintenance on September 8 and was due to re-open on September 22 but the company failed to source naphtha after repair work finished, thereby bringing things to a halt.
President Levy Mwanawasa has sacked his energy minister, George Mpombo, saying he had failed to deal with the fuel crisis which had forced copper mining companies to scale down their operations, the backbone of the economy. - AFP
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