TBS rejects oil cargo at Dar port

TANZANIA Bureau of Standards (TBS) has rejected an oil cargo consignment aboard MT Alburaq ship amounting to 100,000 metric tones of diesel destined for Tanzania market due to failure to meet the required standards, it has been learnt. Confirming the incident, the General Manager of the Petroleum Importation Coordinator Ltd (PIC) Michael Mjinja said recently in Dar es Salaam that, his organization received a letter from TBS on Thursday this week stating that it had stopped the owner Addax Oryx oil company from offloading the consignment at the port. He said Addax Oryx which won the 5th and the 6th oil marketing tender respectively, and in its last tender it loaded oil cargo to be transported into the country, and on reaching at Dar es Salaam port, the TBS officials who works in collaboration with other quality certifying companies such as the Independence Survey Ltd, discovered that the consignment did not conform to the required standards. Narrating about the incident, he said that, the rejected cargo consignment would be returned to its country of origin which he couldn’t disclose when asked but noted that, they are only looking at the bill of lading of the consignment. He also clarified that oil selling companies comes from Arabian countries in Middle East. “Following the incident which to a certain extent has tarnished a good name of the Addax Oryx which has won their tenders for three times, has to face a disciplinary action which he noted that is likely to be blacklisted from the main oil supplying companies in the country” he said. However, he said the decision by the PIC management is to stick to the rules and regulations governing petroleum importation procedures and that it would not hesitate to take disciplinary legal actions against the offenders who want to attempt to bend the contractual procedures for their own benefits.


Asked if the return of the consignment would affect the entire operational demand for the diesel in the country, he said that, there would be no any shortage of diesel oil whatsoever as the storage capacity in the country is measured in terms of stock which he said is enough to caster for the need in the country. He also noted that, his office is currently working over the issue and if possible take the necessary legal measures as per the contract with the oil marketing company says, and added that the contract would require the ordering company to return the fresh bulk alongside with the extra payment of $ 0.5 to be charged as fine in addition to every metric tones ordered. On December 4 this year the PIC suspended Geneva-based Addax Energy SA from tendering for the January, 2013 bulk oil purchases due to violation of regulations in the previous tender. The multinational company is said to have delayed delivery during the fourth tender. Such delays may result (again) into serious shortage of Petroleum products in the country Mjinja revealed last month during the previous 7th tender bids for oil supply for January, next year. According to him, tender period has been reduced to one month from two months with effect from Tender 4. PIC is now looking on having product based tenders instead of combi-cargo tenders. During tendering the PIC Tender committee overseeing the process declared Augusta Energy SA the winner to supply oil in January, next year. Meanwhile, a local Oil Marketing company -Gapco Tanzania Ltd, has won bulk procurement tender for the supply of fuel in the country scheduled for the month of February next year. The company was announced the winner yesterday in Dar es Salaam at a function of opening tender bids which was conducted by Petroleum Importation Corporation (PIC) at their office headquarters located along Nyerere Road. This is the first local company to have won such a tender which it had competed with other six oil marketing companies operating in the country. The companies are Augusta Energy SA, Addax energy SA, Vitol SA, Glencore energy UK Ltd, and Gunvor SA. Before he announced the winner, the Chairman of the tendering committee Nazir Hadji who is also a Country Manager for Nat Oil Company Ltd opened the tender box on which there were six large envelops which had contained details of the contesting companies. In each envelop, there were two copies and an original letter on which the specifications for the tender bids for the deliveries of the February supplies were written in respect to the regulations set. After the evaluation of all who participated was done, Gapco Ltd was announced the winner after scoring an average price of $ 52.50 per metric tone. In the trading period, the company will supply a total of 282,872 metric tones of all fuel worth $ 14.8 million. Specifying the metric tones of each oil product, the chairman noted that, the company will supply 178,900 metric tones of diesel, 73,300 metric tones of petrol, 24,520 metric tones of jet fuel and 6,150 metric tones of kerosene. Describing the various challenges facing the CIP, the General Manager Michael Mjinja said that, his company is worried to see how the premiums keeps of declining and noted that, they only prefer to take those ones whose weight average has the lowest price level. Other challenges he noted is based on the storage capacity which he said is not enough and that his organization is currently working on the issue to see that such a problem comes to an end. However he noted that, for this year, his organization has been awarding tenders to foreign companies whereby two companies Addax Energy has been awarded 3 times and Augusta Energy Ltd has been awarded also 3 times. “But we are happy this time around to have a local company announced the winner, and following this victory this is a great success of the year 2013” he said adding that there would be a constant supply of oil in the country throughout the year and which the EWURA would also get the chance to arrange their indicative prices on the product.