The National Directorate of Hydrocarbons and Fuels, in the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, says that there are oil companies that have been unable to import fuel in recent months due to financial incapacity. As a result, they are creating an embarrassment in the process of importing fuel into the country carried out by the Mozambican Importer of Petroleum Products (IMOPETRO). To avoid stock-outs, the government is already taking measures to make the business safe.
“There are companies on the market that are unable to import fuel due to financial incapacity,” said the National Director of Hydrocarbons and Fuels, Moisés Paulino, in an exclusive interview with “Carta” about the delay in contracting a new international fuel supplier for the country.
He explained that, due to financial incapacity, some importers are accumulating large debts to the international supplier hired by IMOPETRO to import fuel on behalf of all the affiliated companies. The same companies are also adding up debts to the government in terms of taxes and to the company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique, the organisation that manages the ocean terminals where the fuel is unloaded. Paulino pointed out that, due to their inability to honour financial commitments, some oil companies have liquid fuels stuck in warehouses.
The interviewee acknowledged, however, that the state’s debt to the oil companies also has its share, but said that under the Stabilisation Fund, the government has already paid half of the debt, which amounted to 300 million USD and not 450 million USD as the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) said last March. “This means that at the moment the state’s debt to the companies is 150 million USD,” emphasised Paulino.
The manager also admitted that the Bank of Mozambique’s decision not to contribute to the fuel import bill, leaving everything to the commercial banks, contributed to the oil companies’ financial incapacity. “The Bank of Mozambique analysed and came to the conclusion that it was not its role to contribute to the fuel import bill, so it stopped doing so,” explained the source. In addition, the newspaper knows that there are companies that took advantage of the Central Bank’s cover to import and then re-export fuel, damaging the economy.
According to the interviewee, as a result of the financial inability of some oil companies to honour their commitments, international suppliers already consider the Mozambican market to be unsafe. “There was a time when fuel import tenders in Mozambique were attractive to suppliers. At least 10 international companies competed at that time, but recently the number of competitors has dropped considerably,” said Paulino.
In addition, the National Director of Hydrocarbons and Fuels hinted that the inability of some companies is causing some embarrassment in the fuel import process, which is why the government is already taking measures to prevent fuel stocks from breaking down in the country.
Paulino said that the measure consists of reviewing the contract documents, which contain the guidelines and references that must be respected during the execution of the service provided, in this case, the import of liquid fuels and distribution by the four ocean terminals located throughout the country.
Our interlocutor implied that the revision of the terms of reference aims to make the process safer. In his explanation, it became clear that the Executive intends to purify the process of importing fuels into the country. According to the source, it is in this process that some companies will stop being importers and dedicate themselves solely to retail.
The National Director of Hydrocarbons and Fuels did not say how many companies have stopped importing, but the newspaper knows that of the 30 oil companies associated with IMOPETRO, only just over half are operating, with other companies suspending activities due to the effects of the aforementioned state debt and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, among other challenges facing the Mozambican economy.
For his part, the Director General of IMOPETRO, João Macanja, confirmed, without going into too much detail, that some clauses of the tender specifications are in fact being revised, which is delaying the opening of tenders for the latest international public tender, launched on 4 August. The first extension took place on 22 August, to 19 September, but during the contact, Macanja said that the last date had been extended again to 03 October.
In the meantime, the National Directorate of Hydrocarbons and Fuels, IMOPETRO and the Mozambican Association of Oil Companies (AMEPETROL) assure that the delay in contracting a new fuel supplier will not cause a fuel shortage, as the country is adequately supplied.
Carta de Moçambique
