The minister of industries, mines and energy, Modestus Amutse, has announced that the fuel company Vitol will be the only fuel importer allowed to import fuel to Namibia from July to September.
Amutse made the announcement on Saturday, after a letter announcing the arrangement, dated 21 May, leaked on Friday.
Amutse said that Vitol had agreed to supply fuel to Namibia without additional premiums that have cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars since March.
“What set the offer from Vitol apart was that it met the fuel requirement in full: fuel supplied at the basic fuel price, with no premium on top and no public money required,” he said.
The minister said the fuel industry had been consulted and invited to submit proposals for providing fuel.
The current arrangement will end in September, after which the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy intends to introduce new regulations for the bulk import of petroleum.
However, the cost of subsidising fuel over the past months has necessitated the current arrangement, Amutse said.
“Before the conflict [in the Middle East], the National Energy Fund held a substantial surplus. That surplus is today almost exhausted. It has gone into absorbing the under-recoveries and the premiums charged on top of the basic fuel price, in order to safeguard our security of fuel supply,” Amutse said.
