Botswana Oil floats Debswana’s fuel deal for citizens
Botswana Oil Limited (BOL) has formally invited citizen-owned companies to submit proposals for the provision of bulk fuel transportation services to the Debswana mines, a tender that is part of an P8 billion deal the organisations arranged earlier this year.
According to the Request for Proposals (RFP) floated recently, the fuel will be sourced from different locations outside Botswana as well as from BOL depots in Gaborone and Francistown.
“This is part of the strategic partnership between BOL and Debswana aimed at capacitating citizen-owned companies in the fuel supply value chain,” the national oil company stated.
BOL and Debswana signed an agreement in April under which the diamond group would increase citizen companies’ market share in the fuel supply and transportation industries. Debswana, which procures approximately 100 million litres of fuel per annum, said the initiative was part of its Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme (CEEP) and was aimed at giving Batswana opportunities in an area “which over the years has been dominated by foreign-owned suppliers”.
“The five-year partnership, valued at P8 billion, will also create opportunities for support services along the oil value chain, such as truck staging, truck stops, tyre services, wash bays, truck service, maintenance jobs, and other related support activities for Batswana,” reads a statement released by both organisations in April.
“BOL will leverage on the volume economies of scale to ensure a sustained commercial value to all the parties.”
Through the agreement, BOL will play a facilitating role of hand-holding and assisting emerging citizen-owned fuel supply and fuel transportation companies to supply Debswana mines with fuel for their operations.
The transportation of fuel to Debswana operations has been identified as one key area for the two organisations to partner and ensure the security of fuel supply to Debswana operations as well as create meaningful citizen economic empowerment in the fuel value chain.
Successful transporters will be enrolled in CEEP under the BOL and Debswana auspices.
“The programme will provide the necessary support to capacitate the successful citizen entities to deliver to the required levels of service, health, safety, environment and quality,” BOL said in its RFP.
Meanwhile, BOL is engaged in various projects to boost the capacity of the country’s strategic fuel storage facilities. Advanced plans to expand capacity are underway at the Francistown and Gantsi depots, while the Public Private Partnership for the Tshele Hills facility is being fast-tracked.
In addition, BOL is establishing fuel storage facilities at its Mozambican and Namibian ports, which will double the country’s strategic oil reserves and provide a buffer against declining refining capacity in South Africa. Currently, the country’s existing strategic facilities can carry the national demand for 15 days without additional supply while the facilities due in Mozambique and Namibia would collectively hold 30-day stock.
The expanded facilities in Francistown and at Tshele Hills in Kgatleng District would each hold enough fuel to supply the country for 60 days without additional imports.
Botswana consumes approximately 1.2 billion litres of various fuels each month and receives nearly all of its supplies from South Africa.
Under BOL’s plans, the expanded depot in Francistown would receive supplies from Mozambique, while the Gantsi facility would target the route through Namibia. Tshele Hills would still depend on the ports in Durban.