Oil traders vows to curb substandard products in the country

ENGINE oil and lubricants dealers have pledged to support the government in the fight against substandard products in the market in order to save the life of vehicles and machines in the country.  They made the pledge when speaking during a meeting organised by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) to discuss challenges facing the sector. Gilbert Chacha said the problem of substandard oil and lubricants is on the increase thus the need for more efforts to deal with the situation. He said Dar es Salaam has many unofficial oil refilling plants, most of which are substandard and sell their products at low prices. “As dealers, we are ready to support the government in its efforts to rid the country of substandard products in the market,” he said, adding that they are ready to incur costs in that regard just to ensure that there are no substandard oil imported or sold in the country. Chacha also said the government must enforce laws and prosecute all people engaged in sale and distribution of substandard oil and lubricants. “I understand that we have good laws, why do we hesitate to enforce them to do away with this problem once and for all?” He queried. TBS Director General, Joseph Masikitiko, said the bureau has started to work out on all challenges facing the sector. He said they will soon install a new oil and lubricant testing plant at TBS offices that would enable them to provide better services to customers. “We will also introduce shifts, this is done purposely to speedily serve our customers and reduce unnecessary costs,” he said. He concurred that the problem of substandard oil and lubricants in the market is serious and more efforts are needed to end it. In a survey conducted by TBS in Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions two years ago, more than 90 percent of oil products did not meet standard classifications by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and ACEA sequences and equivalence, which specify the minimum requirements based on performance specification. He stated that the government has been taking measures to ensure that only quality lubricants are sold in the market. “It is high time we as stakeholders had a clear way forward to ensure that lubricants sold in Tanzania meet the required standards,” he said. Presenting new lubricants standards, TBS Principal Standard Officer Nickonia Mwabuka said they are TZS 647:2001 for engine oil, TZS 675:2001 for gear oil and TZS 667:2001 for brake fluids. He urged consumers to use quality lubricants because they have many benefits. The benefits, he said, include reducing costs, maintaining power and economy and minimising oil consumption. On the other hand, he said, poor quality lubricants could lead to poor engine performance and wear, environmental pollution, improper piston ring operation and loss of foreign currency. Ashura Katunzi from the Directorate of Quality Management at TBS said the bureau will continue with the process of certifying lubricants using available certification schemes. She said follow up will be made abroad for the purpose of verifying certification of lubricants prior to exporting them through PvOC.

US impressed by speed of EAC integration process

THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has commended efforts made by the East African Community (EAC) in implementing policy priorities and its pace towards regional integration—the ultimate goal of the trading bloc. USAID/Kenya and East Africa/Regional Economic Integration Office Director, Matthew Rees made expressed the sentiments on Monday in Arusha when speaking at a two-day Regional Trade and Feed the Future Coordination Conference attended by USAID mission staff, representatives from other US Government Agencies (USDA), implementing partners as well as officials from the EAC Partner States. The forum was aimed at enhancing collaboration and information sharing among USAID missions and Partners to improve integration, innovation and scaling up of results. It also focused on the implementation of policy priorities and sharing lessons learned from across the region and other trading blocs. EAC Secretary General, Dr. Richard Sezibera highlighted the community’s mutual and strategic partnership with the US government that dates back to the EAC’s inception. "The partnership continues to grow from strength to strength through common development objectives and funding for various programmes including trade and investment, agriculture, environment, health and institutional support," said Dr. Sezibera. "I wish to acknowledge and appreciate the tremendous contribution and investments that USAID has made in advancing regional integration of the EAC," he added.  The EAC boss cited that in 2015, the EAC concluded a Cooperation Agreement on Trade Facilitation, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), adding that the implementation of the agreement would strengthen the capacities and enhance competitiveness of the EAC Partner States in areas of trade and agricultural development.

Tanzania sticks to its gun over Uganda pipeline deal

Tanzania government has continued to make headway in its efforts to convince Uganda to pass a potentially lucrative crude oil pipeline through Tanzania instead of Kenya following a fresh endorsement by a team of Ugandan experts. According to a statement released one week ago by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, the endorsement was made at a meeting in the Ugandan capital Kampala last Saturday attended by representatives from all three countries – including Kenya which is apparently still lobbying hard to win the project. The statement said the Tanzanian delegation to the meeting made a compelling case as to why the proposed 1,400-kilometre pipeline from Hoima in Uganda should pass through Tanzania to the port of Tanga on the Indian Ocean coast. The delegation included the ministry’s permanent secretary, Prof. Justin Ntalikwa, deputy PS Juliana Pallangyo, and experts from the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA). They argued that Tanzania has had much more success in launching and consolidating such projects, citing the 1,710km Tanzania Zambia Mafuta Pipeline (Tazama), SongoSongo—Dar es Salaam, Mnazi Bay—Mtwara and Mtwara-Dar es Salaam gas pipelines as confirmed success stories. 

Tanzania President John Maghufuli meets his counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya

The Kenyan delegation to the meeting had nothing to offer that could match that experience, the statement said. The Ugandan representatives to the meeting were further convinced when Tanzanian experts explained the country’s land policy that allows the state to acquire land and compensate citizens without much ado, unlike in Kenya where land - apart from being scarce - is held by private individuals and state acquisition can be a daunting task. “At the end of the meeting, the Kenyan participants reportedly refused to sign the (meeting) minutes in protest against the Ugandans’ apparent preference of the Tanzanian route rather than that offered by Kenya,” the statement read in part. Tanzania is selling the operational Tanga port as the best route to pump Uganda’s reportedly rich reserves of crude oil which is expected to start flowing to international markets in 2018, while Kenya is campaigning for its yet-to-be-built Lamu port. The tug-of-war for the project between the two neighbouring countries appears to have been intensified by a disagreement of sorts over which route is better among the three international oil firms involved – Total of France, Britain’s Tullow Oil, and China’s CNOOC. Total have already committed funds for the $4 million-plus project and, according to the company’s Uganda branch general manager Adewate Fayemi, they consider the Tanga route as being the more cost-effective of the two after evaluating all the options. "As a company, our position remains that we are going through the Tanga route…I understand there are issues being discussed but our position remains the same," Fayemi told an East African Oil and Gas conference in Dar es Salaam recently. Tanzanian authorities have also been steadfast in maintaining that the agreement between President Magufuli and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni over the project in early March was conclusive despite Kenya’s continued jostling.

How Odinga and Magufuli’s friendship strengthened

FORMER Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who spent last weekend as a guest of President John Magufuli in his Chato district, Geita region home village has explained the origin of the special friendship between the two leaders. Odinga, accompanied by his wife and daughter, arrived in Magufuli's home village by helicopter on Saturday as special guests of the president who was on a short holiday. They were welcomed by Magufuli and his wife, becoming the first official visitors to the president’s home village since he assumed office. The apparent close ties between the two have become a source of concern in some Kenyan quarters given that he is the leader of the country’s main opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) party. 

President Magufuli welcomes form,er Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga at his home in Chato district. This was last week when the Kenyan former Premier flew in a helicopter all the way from Kisumu-Kenya.

On Sunday, Magufuli and Odinga together attended a church service in Chato where the former Kenyan premier explained how they became special friends. "Raila said the friendship began way back when President Magufuli was appointed as minister for works and Raila served in the same capacity in Kenya. Magufuli was appointed deputy works minister as a junior member of parliament in 1995. and became a full minister in 2000. Raila, on the other hand, served as Kenya's minister for roads, public works and housing from 2003 to 2005. "While serving as ministers of works for their respective countries, Magufuli and Raila exchanged experiences frequently and cooperated in joint construction projects. Odinga urged East African Community (EAC) member states to strengthen regional integration and praised the strong historical bilateral relations between Tanzania and Kenya. During a visit to Nairobi in October 2015, Tanzanian ex-president Jakaya Kikwete sought to allay fears in Kenya's ruling Jubilee coalition that Magufuli would work closer with the CORD opposition due to his personal friendship with Odinga. More recently, a dispute over the route of a proposed crude oil pipeline from Uganda to the Indian Ocean has been threatening to strain relations between Tanzania and Kenya, which are both keen on the project. Tanzania is the preferred route of the pipeline because it offers the safest and cost-effective option, but Kenya is vigorously pushing to snatch the project from Tanzania.

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta still in a great puzzle over oil pipeline project

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta flew to France last week for a state visit “that could also give Kenya an opportunity to bring up the issue of the oil pipeline from Uganda,” Kenyan media reported. According to the reports, Kenyatta and his French hosts are scheduled to discuss counter-terrorism and radicalization issues, amongst other development and cooperation-related matters. However, considering the fact that Uganda had earlier indicated interest in passing the pipeline through Kenya before its recent U-turn by choosing a Tanzanian route, Kenyatta and his delegation are expected to engage in a lobbying mission in a bid to keep the project. French oil company Total is amongst three firms involved in the project. Others are Britain’s Tullow Oil and China’s CNOOC. The three players have not mutually agreed on the route, leaving leeway for lobbying both in East Africa and abroad. 

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta 

The lucrative project has seen two East African Community member countries—Tanzania and Kenya—battle it out in recent weeks to win over Ugandan authorities. Tanzania is selling the operational Tanga port as the best route to pump Ugandan crude oil which is expected to flow to international markets in 2018 while Kenya is campaigning for its yet-to-be-built Lamu port. The Tanga route remains the most cost effective, according to Total E & P Uganda general manager Adewate Fayeni.  Fayeni said last week that as far as the company is concerned all the options have been evaluated carefully and the least cost remains the Tanga route. "As a company, our position remains that we are going through to Tanga route, I understand there are issues being discussed but our position remains the same," Fayemi told an East African Oil and Gas conference in Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has maintained that the agreement entered recently with Uganda for the construction of the pipeline was conclusive despite ongoing jostling by Kenya for the project. According to the presidency’s acting director of communications Gerson Msigwa, maneuvers by high-level officials in Kenya to try to snatch the project from Tanzania will eventually prove futile. “The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation and Ministry of Energy and Minerals are already carrying out tangible activities in relation to this project,” Msigwa said.