08 Mar 2020

Head of hydrocarbon sourcing at Botswana Oil Limited (BOL), Mr Tebogo Erick says understanding the pricing slate of oil will give entrepreneurs a chance to compete with other oil business companies.

Mr Erick said this during an oil pricing workshop in Francistown recently.

He said creating awareness of the basic fuel pricing, which was based on the import parity pricing principle and the local fuel pricing structure, would help ensure entrepreneurs were not taken advantage of.

He said although there were three different pricing methods from one country to another, Botswana and most countries in Southern Africa were using the formula based pricing method, which was transparent on how the final price was arrived at.

Mr Erick said the basic fuel pricing working rules were there to make provisions for all grades of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin.

He added that they were adjusted on the first Wednesday of every month.

Although some entrepreneurs complained about the fuel pricing decisions, Mr Erick noted that when a price was decided upon, it would have been determined by numerous factors, including  international crude oil prices and  exchange rates.

Moreover, he said BOL was obliged to assist citizen emerging businesses to tap into the oil industry.

Acting general chief operations officer at BOL, Mr Mosetlho Kenamile said they were aware of the major components in pricing fuel and were currently working with 14 citizen oil companies.  He added that he was hopeful more would register.

Mr Ronald Boikanyo, who spoke on behalf of the participants, thanked BOL for the platform, which he said, had brought the much needed light on oil pricing. ENDS