Dust off your bike, fuel shortages may soon hit again, says an investigation commissioned for the Department of Minerals and Energy.
In December last year South Africa experienced a series of shortages in fuel supplies that caused major disruptions for commuters and businesses alike.
The subsequent report produced by the investigating team headed up by advocate Marumo Moerane was released this week. It said that unless a number of urgent problem areas are addressed, motorists can expect more of the same.
”We anticipate that another supply crisis could emerge in the second half of 2006 because of scheduled shutdowns,” says the report, levelling blame at both the oil companies and the Department of Minerals and Energy.
The report called for all stakeholders to work together to rectify the problems faced by the sector. It blames refinery shutdowns, lack of refined product in stock, poor communication, lack of pipeline capacity and the implementation of unleaded fuel requirements as contributing factors to shortages.
The report called on the government to review its policy on strategic stocks and the responsibilities of stakeholders in relation to security of supply.
”Stock outs are not in the interests of the oil companies or their customers. It is therefore reasonable to expect that the oil companies will try to ensure that stock outs will not occur in the future. However, the government, through the Department of Minerals and Energy, would be advised to assume a monitoring role, to ensure that this happens,” says the report.
It also said that any product specification changes should be agreed at least four years before implementation and that Petronet should speed up the development of the new pipeline between Durban and Gauteng.
The report also called for a comprehensive review of the regulatory framework and questioned whether the basic fuel price formula and the retail-marketing formula were still appropriate.