Government says it has bought 40 000 metric tonnes (about 51.5 million litres) of diesel and petrol from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) under a government-to-government (G-2-G) arrangement that President Lazarus Chakwera announced last November.
In a statement released late Saturday, Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola said the fuel has been procured under a bilateral arrangement between Kenya’s existing G-2-G arrangement with Abu Dhabi and Malawi.
He said the vessel carrying this maiden consignment, MT High Freedom, arrived at Tanga port in Tanzania on December 29 2024.
Matola said: “The first fuel tankers are expected to arrive in Malawi on Thursday, January 9 2025. A total of 1 409-truck loadings shall be required to bring the entire fuel volumes into Malawi.
“Both Malawian and foreign transporters have been engaged to ensure efficient and timely delivery of these volumes. In the meantime, fuel from contracted suppliers for National Oil Company of Malawi [Nocma], Petroleum Importers Limited and other licensed importers continues to flow into the country.”
Our sources confirm the emergency consignment is based on a memorandum of understanding between Kenya and Malawi.
Gulf Energy is one of the oil marketing companies nominated by Aramco of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Emirates National Oil Company to handle the fuel logistics into Kenya.
Transporters Association of Malawi spokesperson Frank Banda said they started loading the fuel yesterday and expect the first batch to arrive by Wednesday.
“This is a relief, at least for January and February. We consume about 50 million litres a month, so, we should be okay for now,” he said.
Last month, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) attributed the country’s perennial fuel crisis to poor governance and corruption and was skeptical about the new fuel importation plan.
President Chakwera announced the shift to a G-2-G fuel procurement method last November ostensibly to cut cut out middlemen, eliminate potential corruption along the supply chain and ease pressure on foreign currency externalisation through longer payment periods for fuel supplied.
In a national address, the President said his administration was mooting a G-2-G fuel deal with UAE through flexible payment arrangements to avert perennial fuel stockouts, which worsened last year.
At least 70 percent of fuel imports come through Mozambique’s ports with Beira processing 50 percent and Nacala facilitating 20 percent while the remaining 30 percent is hauled through the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
According to Nocma data, Malawi uses 1.05 million litres each of diesel and petrol per day.
The country spends $600 million (about K1 trillion) on fuel importation per year, according to the Reserve Bank of Malawi. In total, the country needs $3 billion to meet its import requirements.
