24 October 2022
Own Correspondent
Botswana Oil Limited (BOL) has vowed to increase the national strategic petroleum storage capacity to 60 (strategic) plus 5 (operational) days coverage by constructing a tank farm with a capacity of 187million litres and associated works at Tshele Hills. The base year to reach full capacity is 2030.
It also endeavours to structure a Public Private Partnership(PPP) arrangement with a suitable private partner through an appropriate Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will provide the required funding to complete the works at Tshele Hills, which is expected to be finished by July 2025.
“The current strategy for security of supply for the country is articulated in the Deloitte Consulting study of 2012, which also developed the formative 5 year strategy for BOL. Some of the aspects of the study were later validated by the 2016 Price Water House Coopers review that aimed refining BOL Readiness to implement the import mandate,” said Meshack Tshekedi, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) for Botswana Oil.
He said, “The current strategy for security of supply for the country is articulated in the Deloitte Consulting study of 2012, which also developed the formative 5 year strategy for BOL. Some of the aspects of the study were later validated by the 2016 Price Water House Coopers review that aimed refining BOL Readiness to implement the import mandate.
Botswana Oil is the Government Agent for the achievement of the broader economic objectives which the current multinationals cannot achieve. The company is set up under the Companies Act.
The mandate for BOL is to ensure security and efficiency of supply and primary distribution of petroleum products in Botswana; manage state-owned strategic reserve facilities, strategic stocks as well as bulk storage and distribution facilities and support the sustainable facilitation of meaningful participation of citizens in the petroleum business.
The strategy for security of supply for the country is therefore underpinned by:
- Consolidation of imports by the NOC to give the country some control on the flow of imports
- Operation of strategic fuel infrastructure by the NOC
- Expansion of strategic storage infrastructure (to 60 days stock cover by design year 2030)
- Operationalisation of alternative routes of supply (introduction of Namibia and Mozambique routes)
- Promulgation of sector legislation (PPB)
- Production through conversion of Coal-to-Liquids
Botswana Oil is also expanding the Francistown fuel depot to 60 million liters (60,000m3) and the one in Ghantsi to 30million litres. The latter is scheduled to take 18 months to construct and is scheduled for completion in May 2024 and an ambitious 350 km Multi product pipeline (Tarlton RSA– Tshele Hills GBE), which is at Feasibility study development is expected to be completed by Jan 2023
“We will create an opportunity for Citizen participation in the fuel supply value chain at a scale bigger than has ever been done in the country. Will increase citizen companies market share in the space of transportation and fuel supply, creating jobs in the country,” said Meshack Tshekedi, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) for Botswana oil.
These projects create unique opportunities for support services in the value chain such as trucks staging / truck stops, truck service and maintenance, tyre services, wash bays creating further jobs for Batswana.
It will also unearth opportunities to build the required scale, expertise, and experience in Batswana to participate in future businesses such as the BOL Import Mandate and the future Debswana business, without the need for BOL’s participation
