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Mr Mbiriri

Business Reporters
GOVERNMENT has put in motion two more upgrade phases for the Harare-Feruka pipeline, to enable it to pump 7,5 million litres of fuel per month, but only when demand rises from the current 4 million litres a day.

It is also still actively pursuing the construction of a second oil pipeline as it seeks to ensure that fuel destined for the country and beyond is transported via the pipeline.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development Partson Mbiriri last week said the original design of the 10 inch steel pipeline was to pump 4 million litres of fuel per day or 120 million litres per month.

“As often reported, we consume 4 million litres of fuel per day. So we kind of live from hand to mouth (and) if anything went wrong, either at Beira or along the way . . . more or less we are stuck,” said Mr Mbiriri.

The last upgrade of the pipeline was done three years ago when a drag reducing agent, which allows for quicker movement of fuel, was introduced. This allowed the pipeline to pump a maximum of 6 million litres per day, which is 180 million litres a month.

Mr Mbiriri said the next upgrading phase would see the installation of a booster pump at Wilton Farm in Makoni District. Two similar pumps would be installed by Companhia Do Pipeline Mozambique (CPMZ) in Mozambique.

“This will then improve the pipeline’s capacity from 6 million to 7,5 million litres per month. The third and the last phase will entail changing the pumping series from Beira through to Harare in favour of bigger pumps. This should result in capacity being further improved from 7,5 million per day to 16 million litres per day — which will be 480 million litres per month.

“When the various phases will be undertaken, shall depend on the economy’s effective demand for fuel.

It is also important to note that it is along this upward trajectory that a second pipeline shall be needed,” said Mr Mbiriri.

Meanwhile, Energy and Power Development Minister Dr Samuel Undenge said contrary to claims that the project which was expected to cost $1 billion, was dead in the water, it was still alive despite it having been on the cards for the past few year.

“There has always been that proposal. It’s an issue which we are ceased with as Government and we are still examining the proposals and of course wait for the parties involved to come up with a complete product.

“This project is something under consideration,” he said. The planned pipeline was expected to run through Zimbabwe to Harare and Bulawayo. From Bulawayo, it was to run south-west to Botswana and north through Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The project was to be implemented in phases, with the first stage involving the construction of the Beira-Harare section at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

A thorough assessment conducted by IHT Markit, a world leader in critical information, analytic and expertise, on how to increase the capacity of the fuel pipeline and also investigate the possibility of having a second oil pipeline into Zimbabwe showed that there is room to lower the cost of moving fuel through the pipeline from Beira to Harare in line with the international benchmarks.

However, Mr Mbiri said attempting to build a second pipeline at the moment would turn it into a white elephant, staking a case for the need to sweat the existing pipeline “and get our timing for the second pipeline right”.