The National Oil Company of Malawi (NOCMA) has assured the nation that the country has enough fuel to sustain itself. The oil company made the assurance following some media reports of fuel shortages in some parts of the country particularly Lilongwe’s Business District.
Addressing the media in Lilongwe, NOCMA Deputy Chief Executive Officer Hellen Buluma said the shortages in some parts of the country was caused by the busy business activities in Lilongwe over the weekend.
“We would like to assure Malawians that the country has fuel product, both Petro and Diesel, and continue to receive fuel imports from both the port of Dar es Salaam and Beira, despite foreign exchange challenges which affected the Company’s importation capacity” she said.
Buluma further said that the shortages of fuel will normalize by the end of business on Monday as some volumes of the commodity are being transported from the Strategic Fuel Reserves. Buluma has, however, advised the media to desist from spreading false stories.
She said: “NOCMA would therefore like to assure the general public that the country will not stock out of fuel despite the sporadic location-based fuel shortages in Lilongwe and other areas and requests the public to desist from panic buying.”
On his part, the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Chief Executive Officer Henry Kachaje attributed the fuel shortages to the busy business weekend in Lilongwe where among other things the Nigerian artist Kizz Daniel was performing at the Lilongwe Golf Club and the Flames had an engagement at the Bingu National Stadium.
A spot check done during the afternoon hours on Monday indicates that the situation was returning to normal as motorists easily fueled their cars compared to the morning hours when motorists were seen going around searching for the commodity.