National Oil Company of Malawi to inaugurate strategic fuel reserves

Government through the National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) will on Wednesday December 6, 2017, inaugurate the Strategic Fuel Reserves at Kanengo in Lilongwe.

NOCMA Public Relations Officer, Telephorus Chigwenembe said  the reserves have a combined storage capacity of 60 million litres, giving Malawi a two month fuel cover.

He said that Lilongwe and Blantyre depots each have 25 million litre capacities while Mzuzu’s capacity is 10 million litres.

“The reserves will ensure that there is continuous availability of fuel in the country,” he said, adding, “the reserves were constructed by Government of Malawi with a loan from Exim Bank of India.”

In terms of value of the loan, Chigwenembe said he was not best placed to comment as it was the Ministry of Finance representing government in the construction contract with Apollo International who was the contractor.

The strategic fuel reserves are expected to be inaugurated by President Professor Peter Mutharika.

Chigwenembe added that the reserves would be managed by NOCMA which is wholly owned by Government.

Registered in 2010, NOCMA’s mandate is to manage the country’s Strategic Fuel Reserve facilities, promote competition in the oil and gas industry and to promote oil and gas exploration activities in order to ensure stability and security of supply of liquid fuel and gas products.