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Zimbabwe Considers Importing Crude Oil to Meet Fuel Crisis

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

Zimbabwe considers importing crude oil to meet fuel crisis

HARARE, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwean government is considering importing crude oil and refine it in the country in a bid to resolve the fuel problem and meet the increasing demand for the commodity.

The Minister of Energy and Power Development, Michael Nyambuya, was quoted on Tuesday by Chronicle as saying that the option was under consideration since it would be cheaper to import crude oil.

He said the government has decided to explore the crude refining option as ample evidence showed that it was cheaper to purchase crude oil and arrange for its refining.

The Minister also noted that fuel consumption continued to increase, with demand for diesel rising from 2.5 million liters to 3.5 million liters, while demand for petrol had risen from two million liters to three million liters a day.

He said the government was also diversifying sources of fuel due to escalating oil prices on the international markets.

In this regard, he said, extraction of oil from coal and biofuels take center stage, since the technology already exists and Zimbabwe would adopt these technologies to the advantage of the country.

With regard to biofuels, Nyambuya said, the government has decided that blending petrol with ethanol be resuscitated and that the country must produce biodiesel, which would contribute to 20 percent of the country's fuel requirements.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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