10 Apr 2022

 Botswana has an economic contingency programme for maintenance of petroleum products equivalent to 60 days of any prevailing national consumption.

Speaking during the Trade Up North Mining, Manufacturing and Construction Seminar recently, chief energy engineer at the Department of Energy, Mr Baruti Regoeng, however, said at the moment, the national strategic storage holding capacity stood at a consumption equivalent of 18 days.

He said there were plans to construct additional storage across the country to cater for the shortfall of 42 days.

Mr Regoeng said Botswana imports more than 90 per cent of petroleum products through South Africa, while the balance was sourced through the likes of  Mozambique and Namibia.

He noted that supply and distribution of the product was private sector-led and created a lot of investment opportunities for local, regional and international investors.

While the county’s consumption stands at 1.2 billion litres per annum (ground fuels) with an average annual growth of 3.5 per cent, aviation fuel consumption stands at around 20 million litres per annum.

However, Mr Regoeng also observed that Botswana’s geographical location and being landlocked coupled with integrated transport network and leading-edge ITC could enable seamless trading and investment regionally and internationally.

Touching on the issue of National Energy Policy (NEP), he said the Policy was adopted by Parliament in April 2021 with the main objective of increasing access to affordable energy products and services by all sectors of the economy.

The other objective, he said, was to stimulate sustainable economic diversification and growth by promoting completion, efficiency and investment in order to improve the quality of life of Batswana.

Principal engineer at the Department of Mines, Mr Barulaganye Ace said government and the Chamber of Mines created a committee to oversee the purchase of mining and supplies with some preference to those produced locally.

Mr Ace said compliance was not legally required, but strongly recommended. ENDS