Zimbabwe is on course to meet a June 2017 deadline to stop the use of high sulphur diesel and migrate to a more cleaner fuel, a government official has said.
In 2007 the country moved from Diesel 5000 to diesel 500. Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which use the Beira port for fuel receipts agreed a June 2017 target to switch from Diesel 500 to a far cleaner fuel, Diesel 50, whose sulphur content is a tenth that of Diesel 500.
The countries intend to move to an even lower sulphur fuel Diesel 10 by 2020.
Permanent secretary in the ministry energy Pattison Mbiriri yesterday told a meeting to promote Diesel 50 that uptake of the low sulphur fuel was on the rise.
“Demand for Diesel 50 continues to increase in Zimbabwe with the monthly consumption increasing from about 1.7 million litres in 2015 to about 4 million litres per month in 2016. The number of oil companies supplying Diesel 50 has also jumped from a mere three in 2015 to six in 2016,” he said.
Mbiriri added that as a way of promoting supply to the market, government will not regulate the price of diesel 50.
“We decided to leave the pricing to market forces but we are constantly monitoring and we will not hesitate to step in and put a cap if we think the price is excessive,” said Mbiriri.
Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Morocco and Tunisia are the few African countries that have already migrated to Diesel 50.-The Source
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