27 Jul 2017

Botswana Oil general manager for corporate services, Mr Mokwena Morulane says the minimal reduction seen in aviation fuel prices came as a result of the task team set up to review fuel charges. 

He revealed in an interview that for Jet A1, there had been a reduction of an average of 25 per cent. 

This he said following a presentation to aviation operators to appreciate Botswana Oil and its mandate. 

“As a commercial based entity owned by government, we realised that there was a lot of aviation activities taking place in Maun and that clearly aviation price fuel would be a major concern. We also realised that the aviation industry was not aware of our mandate since we are new and started operation in 2013 and we wanted to introduce ourselves,” he added. 

Mr Morulane said a task team was set up beginning of the year to further review the aviation fuel prices to take into account the prevailing international market conditions. 

The team comprised officials from the department of Energy, Botswana Oil Limited, Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana and the supplier, Puma Energy Botswana. 

He explained that the task team engaged consultations with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), some regional airline operators and other international products suppliers. 

Mr Morulane explained that the reviewing of fuel prices came as a result of public outcry dating back to 2013 on relatively high aviation charges. 

Furthermore, he said the department of energy developed aviation fuel pricing slate based on the prevailing oil prices gazetted in October 2013. 

In his presentation, he mentioned some of the review outcomes such as the pricing of aviation fuels not regulated but determined largely on the basis of the supplier invoices. 

Aviation fuel prices for Botswana he said ranked very high in comparison with other countries in the region citing the Jet A1 prices in Gaborone at P9.56 compared to P8.86 and P8.33 per litre in Windhoek and Harare respectively. 

Some other review outcomes were that airports in Botswana were supplied by one provider who also owns the entire supply and storage infrastructure at all the airports and that the aviation fuel market was small.

However, Mr Morulane observed that Cabinet approved the revised slate for aviation charges effective July 1, 2017 including regulation of aviation fuel charges. 

Giving a brief about the establishment of Botswana Oil, he noted that it was established to ensure security of supply of petroleum products including aviation fuels. 

The entity also supports the facilitation of meaningful participation of citizens in the petroleum sector and development of key projects in order to contribute to the wellbeing of Batswana. 

The company also ensures distribution of petroleum products to the rural areas where multinationals are not able to operate. ENDS