Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has been in short supply since mid-October. LPG, used for cooking in tens of thousands of Mozambican households, is usually imported from South Africa. Up until October, the gas was supplied by the South African fuel company Engen, with which the Mozambican importer, Imopetro, has a contract valid until February 2012.
But a fire at the Engen refinery in Durban on 14 October interrupted the constant flow across the border of trucks laded with gas containers, and Engen also failed to keep its promise that the refinery would be repaired by 30 November.
A statement issued by Imopetro on Tuesday said that the gas now on sale came from unspecified “alternative sources”, since the Engen refinery is still not producing. Engen now forecast that production of LPG in Durban will resume on 18 December.
Nonetheless, Imopetro promised that the amounts of LPG on sale and due to arrive “make it possible to guarantee that the market will be normally supplied”. The statement pledged that there will be sufficient gas available for the coming festive season.
There was thus no justification for restriction on sale, or for any hoarding of gas by members of the public, Imopetro stressed.
The price of gas to the consumers, set by the government, remains unchanged, the statement said.
Post published in: Africa News