Zimbabwe Gvt Fails To Upgrade The Feruka, Oil Refinery Plant, Which is Now A Write Off,

MUTARE: Feruka Refinery Plant which was constructed in 1965 during the then Rhodesia is now a complete right off, operating as storage facility only after government failed to upgrade the facility.

The plant only operated for 15 months and is now currently used as a loading, storage and blending facility without the refinery aspect.

Petro-Zim general manager, Cathrine Katsande said it was cheaper to construct a new plant than to refurbish the existing one.

Currently, Zimbabwe pumps 5 million litres of fuel a day from Beira, Mozambique but the old refinery has the capacity to handle one million litres.

“We need a new refinery because this one is outdated. Technology has changed and the kind of crude oil we receive today is totally different from what used to be produced back then,” said Katsande.

She said 22 million euro’s is needed to construct a new plant.

National Oil Infrastructure Company (NOIC) depot manager, Charles Mhizha said the Feruka depot was pumping four million litres a day and has 26 operational tanks.

“Our depot has a storage capacity of 180,8 million and daily we are pumping 1,8m  million litres of diesel, petrol 1m,ethanol 200 litres, jet A1 and paraffin  300 000 litres from Beira,” said Mhizha.

He said the current refinery “has seen its better days”.

Energy minister, Samuel Undenge said plans were still in the pipeline to engage foreign investors to construct a new refinery.

Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko advised Undenge to consider investors from either Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan in the project when he toured the refinery recently.

source-newzimbabwe

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