OVER 30,000 metric tonnes of imported petroleum products for local consumption this month have failed to meet the required quality standards, the ‘Daily News’ can confirm.
The consignment was imported through the
Bulk Procurement System (BPS) using an oil tanker, MT Alpine Meadow.
But, reached for comments yesterday, Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS)
Director General, Professor Egid Mubofu, neither confirmed nor denied
the news, asking for more time before he could issue a statement.
“I’m currently in a board meeting and I
cannot respond on the matter … if you have other sources of information,
it’s well but I cannot make any comment,” Prof Mubofu told this
newspaper in a telephone interview.
Impeccable sources on the other hand
confided to the ‘Daily News’ that samples of the fuel from the oil
tanker was proved inferior following the laboratory tests, which
officials from the standards watchdog conducted at the Dar es Salaam
port.
“The petroleum product coded QBA W 1025
failed the standard requirements for distillation, known in the
petroleum industry as ASTM D 86 final boiling point; laboratory tests
confirmed the anomaly,” the sources said.
Investigations by this newspaper have
established that the questionable consignment was imported by Trafigura
Pte Ltd, one of the three companies, which won the tender to import fuel
through the BPS for November. Other companies were Sahara Group and
Audax Resources.
The product importer is required under
the Petroleum Act of 2015 and its regulations to ship back the fuel
shipment, refund companies that had placed orders and pay penalties to
the authorities.
The industry sources allayed fears of
shortage of the petroleum products in the local market because there are
always stand-ins consignment in case of such incidences to ensure the
country has adequate supply of the powering liquid.
“The substandard oil will never be
allowed in the market and instead the importer will be required to ship
it back from where it was sourced; I understand as well that there is
another ship which is about to deliver alternative stock to bridge the
gap,” the source explained.
It is understood that the Agency (PBPA),
an agency mandated to coordinate importation of petroleum products, is
working round the clock with other firms that won the tender, Audax and
Sahara, to deliver the required stock in the market.
The average monthly domestic market
demand for petrol, diesel, JET-A1 (jet oil) and kerosene procured
through the BPS at the Dar es Salaam port stands at 270,000 metric
tonnes. In addition, between 25,000 and 38,000 metric tonnes of
petroleum products are imported through the Tanga port for supply in the
northern regions.
In the new system, products are imported
on a cargo by cargo tendering system, but it is only now that GBP has
won to bring in 37,975 metric tonnes of petrol and 30,031 metric tonnes
of Jet A-1.
Tanzania introduced the BPS in January
2012 by establishing a database on consumption trends to get the best
price on the world market and guarantee quality of imported products.
The then Petroleum Importation
Co-coordinator Ltd (PICL), the current PBPA, prequalifies suppliers
eligible for participation to tenders for supply of petroleum products
in Tanzania mainland, annually.
PBPA consolidates all the requirements
and prepares the tender document, indicating the specific quantity of
diesel, petrol, Jet A1 and kerosene to be supplied by the winning
bidders.
On commencement of the BPS, tenders were
floated on a quarterly basis, with the winning bidder supplying the
products for a three-month period.
After the second tender, the bidding
period was changed to monthly to solve the problem of inaccurate
forecasts of product requirements, which resulted in congestion of
vessels at the port.
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