By Mada Augustine Ngombu
The Public Relations Manager at the Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) Sierra Leone, Lansana Fofanah has informed the public of the availability of diesel in the market, but admitted low supply of petrol, which he said prompted the agency to put out a press release .
Lansana said that on the 14th of December they received 18,000 tons of diesel and on the following day 15,000 tons of petrol and that they were expecting the arrival of 3,000 tons more petrol.
He added that over the weekend the country was low on petrol, leading to long queues which made people scramble for petrol.
“The Petroleum Regulatory Agency is just a regulator; we are not importing neither is government importing the commodity. This is a private sector- driven entity, with no government participation in it, but looking at the nature of the petrol government is doing everything in terms of giving the support to the dealers so they could import the fuel” Lansana said.
He linked the weekend fuel crisis to the delay by the vessel expected.
When it comes to monitoring the petroleum product, he added that they ensure that they look at the available stock to know when the fuel will run out, and as a result they always advise oil marketing companies to put in orders for the product, but that delay in delivery result in crisis.
On arrival of a petroleum vessel on Monday 15 December, Lansana said they went there along with the companies and ensured the immediate discharge of the fuel to all the suppliers.
“Every supplier that put in for the product got his or her own supply, and normalcy is returning across the country” Lansana said.
He further added that the current petroleum stock will take the country till February 2023, but they are not looking at the sustainability of the product, but at the possibility of getting the next shipment into the country.
While explaining the challenges, Lansana said, the Ukraine and Russia war is one of the major factors hindering the smooth operation of the PRA. He added that Sierra Leone is not a producer of petroleum product so whatever happens along the global supply chain will affect Sierra Leone as well.
Lansana said, the foreign currency exchange is a challenge to the leones and in the past, they got products on 90 day credit, but presently it’s a cash and carry business. This he said has put the companies under pressure and government had to interfere through the Central Bank to help because commercial banks cannot meet the daily forex demand of the oil marketers.
He admitted black market is a serious challenge, but they are trying their best to contain the issue.
Copyright © 2022 Politico (21/12/22)
