Ndola — ERNEGY and Water Development Minister, Kenneth Konga, yesterday assured the nation that the Government was working hard to ensure that authorities start pumping the 60,000-tonnes crude oil from Tanzania to Zambia to end the fuel shortage that has hit parts of the country.

Mr Konga said in an interview in Lusaka that within Ndola where the petrol shortage was critical, one Oil Marketing Company (OMC) had 200,000 litres in stock.

He said the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) was yesterday working at ways to request the OMC to share the stock with others to mitigate the situation.

Mr Konga said six tankers for another OMC were yesterday on the way from South Africa and they should be arriving in Zambia today.

The minister said that Ndola alone had about 500,000 litres of the commodity while Chingola had 30,000 litres and Kitwe had 2,500 litres.

Generally he said motorists and other people should not panic because the issue was receiving maximum attention.

He said his officers were on the ground and he was confident that by this morning progress would have been made and the oil would start flowing from Dar -es- Salaam to Ndola.

He said as soon the oil was received it would be refined and it would accordingly be distributed to the OMC's throughout Zambia.

"Therefore, people should not panic because we are working hard to ensure that by tomorrow (today) morning the pumping of oil from Dar -es- Salaam will have started.

Mr Konga said the Government had initially instructed the OMC's to directly import some fuel into Zambia to abate any such shortages but it seemed that the advice was not followed.

Earlier, Indeni Petroleum Refinery, board chairman, Buleti Nsemukila, said there was a problem with the pump in Dar-es-Salaam which had resulted in 60,000 tonnes of crude oil being stuck there.

Dr Nsemukila said in an interview yesterday that the Ndola based refinery plant which was shut for more than one month was now set to be operational again.

"All was set to have the plant re-opened before the end of September but the pumping problems are now delaying the resuming of operations at Indeni," he said.

The Indeni board chairman said that the Government was certain that closure of the plant would not in any way affect the fuel supply needed for Zambia's consumption.

He stated that the Government was certain that the gap left by the closure of Indeni would be easily filled by the OMCs which were able to supply sufficient refined fuel products needed for the Zambia's consumption.

Dr Nsemukila said the closure of Indeni did not in any way contribute to the recent increase in fuel prices.

"What lead to the increase in fuel prices were forces which determine changes in fuel prices on the international market and the situation at Indeni had nothing to do with the changes apart from just being affected by the developments.

"The increase of fuel prices on the international market to US $18 per barrel were one of the highest experienced on the world market in recent years," Dr Nsemukila said.

And an acute fuel shortage has hit Ndola, Mufulira, Chingola, Kitwe and other towns on the Copperbelt creating a situation where most filing stations were yesterday closed or operating below capacity.

Meanwhile, some OMCs said some parts of Zambia might continue experiencing acute fuel shortages because they were currently experiencing logistical problems in the importation of refined oil products such that they were now finding it difficult to efficiently do the go-between role which was traditionally performed by Indeni.

Zambezi Oil Transport (ZOT) company, managing director, Robinson Malenji, said the OMCs were now finding it difficult to operate efficiently because of the sudden increase in the demand for fuel in Zambia such that they were now being forced to start off loading from each OMC's strategic fuel reserves.

Mr Malenji said each OMC's strategic fuel reserve was expected to last for only 15 days before a particular OMC completely runs out of fuel.

"As ZOT we are now selling between 150,000 litres and 200, 000 litres of fuel per day from the previous record of 105, 000 litres per day such that although we have ordered two million litres of fuel the logistical process of having the fuel moved from Dar-es-Salaam to Zambia seems to be slow such that we are now feeling the pressing demand for the commodity.

"If we do not receive the first consignment of 600,000 litres soon we may also resort to start selling fuel from our strategic fuel reserve tanks stationed at the Indeni plant," Mr Malanji said.

He said that most OMCs would continue working under pressure due to the pressing demand for fuel until Indeni was reopened.

Last Friday Indeni management held a meeting with the OMCs at which they assured the fuel trading companies that the refinery would be operational within the next seven days.

Mid last month the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) announced the increase in fuel prices in Zambia.