Cape Town – Liquified Fuels Wholesalers Association (LWFA) has reportedly warned that South Africa could be hit with “fuel shedding” in future if the recommended “90 days’ strategic stock” plan was not implemented.
It is alleged the recommendations were to ensure liquid fuels were available in adequate quantities at affordable prices.
LWFA said Moerane Report made the recommendation in 2006 and it was about time the country addressed the matter, IOL reported.
“Sixteen years later we still don’t have an agreement between the regulator and the oil majors on how much strategic stock we need to keep and how the cost of this strategic stock (will) be covered,” the report quoted CEO of the LWFA, Peter Morgan as saying.
The report said that South Africa had zero strategic stocks during the recent Transnet wage strike, and the crisis was avoided when import terminals and the imports arrived in the nick of time.
Earlier this month, Transnet labour unions ended a week-long strike that crippled the continent’s most industrialised economy after they agreed to an offer of a six percent hike in their wages.
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Morgan believes the recommendation has not been implemented because there was no political will to do so, and called for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy and the liquid fuels industry to come together to work on the logistics of the recommendations.
BusinessTech reported that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has reportedly requested an update on the status of the country’s fuel reserve, following Transnet’s week-long strike.
This is after ports and transport networks experienced disruption while stakeholders in the fuel industry warned that the country faced the risk of a fuel supply crisis due to the unavailability of refined fuel stocks, the report said.
The DA also accused the ANC government of failing to implement recommendations placing the country at risk of fuel shortage.
“Since the release of the Moerane Commission of Inquiry Report into the fuel crisis that occurred in South Africa in November/December 2005, the ANC government has failed to implement the strategic refined fuel reserves recommendation, placing the country at severe risk of fuel shortages should there be a major disruption in the fuel supply chain,” the party was quoted as saying.
The party warned that disruption to the supply of refined liquid fuel would have far-reaching consequences on the social order, which could see consumers face a food supply crisis as wholesalers struggle to transport food stocks.
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
