Totsa, one of the ‘arms’ of Totalenergies Group, will be the supplier of liquid fuels to the country between September and November this year. According to the Mozambican Importer of Petroleum (IMOPETRO), the entity that launched the tender, Totsa presented the best proposal from a group of five companies that competed for the supply of fuels.
The company now announced will succeed IPG, which has been providing the fuels for the past six months. After the tender was launched, seven companies purchased the tender documents, but only five expressed interest.
These were key criteria in choosing the winner with the best price, safety and reliability. Normally, the tenders for fuel importation in Mozambique have been for a maximum period of six months, but, as recently explained by the director of IMOPETRO, João Macandja, there is nothing legally preventing them from being for one, two, or even twelve months.
“This time we opted for three months because the international market situation is not favorable. There are many uncertainties and the companies always present high price proposals, and we also want to beware of these uncertainties in the oil market,” explained Macandja.
He exemplified that in recent times the chartering of ships for the transport of fuel has increased by more than 100 dollars per ton, which has made logistics much more expensive. The IMOPETRO general manager assured that the tender in reference is governed by international procedures and rules similar to those specified in the World Bank guidelines, namely Procurement Under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits.
In total, Mozambique intends to import more than 575,000 metric tons of fuel to ensure that the country’s needs are met in the period in question.
In detail, 150,000 tons of gasoline, 400,000 tons of diesel, and 25,000 tons of gas are to be distributed from the ports of Maputo, Beira, Nacala, and Pemba.
It should be noted that all liquid fuel on sale in Mozambique (diesel, gasoline, and kerosene) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, is imported by sea in special freighters.
The process is centralized, by law, in a single entity, IMOPETRO, owned by the distributors of petroleum products operating in the country.
