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By ZamChro Correspondent

Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) Limited has projected to reduce load shedding by 50 per cent in Lusaka next month following the receipt of the 150 mega volt ampere (MVA) capacity step down transformer that has inbuilt protection relays.

The transformer worth US $4 million (about K18.6 billion) that would replace the burnt one at Leopards Hill substation was manufactured by Crompton Greaves of India and was delivered on Monday via the Chirundu border.

The Leopards Hill substation caught fire in June this year. Installation of the transformer by Zesco engineers is expected to take four weeks and the manufacturers will then arrive in the country to inspect and carry out performance tests to result in full operation by end of January 2010.

“The total cost is US $3.2 million but with transportation and purchase of accessories like protection relays among others, the cost will reach US $4 million and we expect improved supply of electricity in Lusaka and we approximate to reduce load shedding by 50 per cent and the transformer has a capacity of 150 MVA to step down 330 kilo volts to 132 KV and its life span is 30 years,” said Zesco Limited acting director for generation and transmission, Timothy Lungu.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

Mines and Minerals Development Minister Maxwell Mwale announced in Lusaka yesterday that among the seven successful bidders for the 11 demarcated petroleum exploration blocks, three of them are Zambian companies. These companies have been awarded the licence to explore petroleum in three provinces

Only one bidder out of the eight companies shortlisted about a fortnight ago has been left out while the 12 remaining blocks in three provinces will be re-advertised.

Mr Mwale named the successful local companies as Majetu, which has been offered two blocks in North-Western Province, and Barotse Petroleum Company, which has been given two blocks in Western Province.

Another local firm, Chat Milling Company of Lusaka will explore in two blocks in North-Western Province and another block in Western Province.

The foreign companies are Petrodel Resources of Britain, GB Petroleum of Britain, Glint Energy of United States of America and Exile Resources of Canada.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

Indeni Petroleum Refinery yesterday finally began producing petrol with an initial 600,000 litres set to be released on the market today.

Energy Permanent Secretary, Peter Mumba was hopeful that the resumption of petrol production at Indeni would end the month-long shortage that has hit most parts of the country.

Mr Mumba said yesterday that the fuel shortage, which had hit the country, would today come to an end.

He said Indeni, which on Monday started producing petrol, had by yesterday managed to produce more 600,000 litres, which was yesterday pumped over to Tazama for distribution to various parts of the country today.

He said the petrol production would from today increase as the company would start producing 600,000 to 700,000 litres per day, a quantity which the permanent secretary said would be enough to meet the daily demand.

“The nation must be assured that the crisis which has hit the country for the past one month will today come to an end as Indeni has started producing petrol.

‘‘The production started on Monday and as I am talking to you, the company has managed to produce over 600,000 litres which is expected to be pumped to Tazama today and by tomorrow (today) OMCs will start collecting the commodity for distribution to all the parts of the country,” Mr Mumba said.

He said Indeni had produced more than 3 million litres of diesel since it was re-opened two weeks ago and that OMCs had been overwhelmed by the commodity, which he said some were even failing to collect.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

Nineteen people died while 33 others sustained severe injuries yesterday after a road accident on the Great North Road in Chinsali.

Eighteen of them died on the spot after the bus in which they were travelling collided with a fuel tanker.

Police Service spokesperson Bonny Kapeso confirmed the accident which happened between 04:00 hours and 05:00 hours yesterday.

The bodies of the deceased are lying in Chinsali District Hospital Mortuary, while the injured are admitted to the same hospital.

Mr Kapeso said a Scania Marcopolo bus was travelling from Kitwe when it collided with a fuel tanker which was coming from Nakonde.

He said the incident happened at Chisunsa Village in Matumbo.

Some surviving passengers admitted to hospital said they suspected something wrong in the driving when the first driver handed over the vehicle to a colleague.

And Chinsali Hospital acting director of medical services Kamina Kabongo described the condition of the admitted as stable.

Dr Kabungo, however, did not rule out changes in the condition of the surviving accident victims. One of the survivors was pronounced dead at 15:00 hours.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

The Engineering Institute of Zambia (EIZ) has called for transparency in the management of the energy sector.

EIZ president Henry Musonda has said the government must clean up the energy sector as it was important for the country’s continued economic growth.

“The way forward in managing the energy sector is to be more transparent and reduce on the involvement of politicians in this sector,” he said.

Musonda said there was also need to put in place a communication system that would allow the public to correct information on what was happening in the sector, instead of having anybody issuing statements about the fuel crisis in the country.

“We cannot have such a vital sector run in the manner in which we experienced over the past one month,” he said.

Energy minister Kenneth Konga earlier said Indeni Oil Refinery, the country’s sole oil refiner, would continue to limp until government made a decision to find an equity partner.

Konga also called on stakeholders interested in setting up a second refinery to do so since the government had liberalised the economy to allow for participation from the private sector. 

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By ZamChro Correspondent

The Government has finally bought off the 50 per cent Indeni Petroleum Refinery shares formerly owned by Total International at US$5.5 million, bringing Zambia’s ownership of the plant to 100 per cent.

Finance Permament Secretary, Berlin Msiska announced at a farewell party held for Indeni managing director, Michael Faulkner on Tuesday evening at Mukuba Hotel that the Government now owned 100 per cent shares in Indeni.

Dr Faulkner has been transferred to France by Total International and has been replaced by Indeni’s Purchasing and Supply Manager Maybin Noole.

Mr Msiska said the Government and Total International had just concluded negotiations for the 50 per cent shares previously owned by Total.

He said after Indeni was gutted by fire in January 2002, Total bought 50 per cent shares previously owned by Agip and therefore owned the oil firm jointly with the Government of Zambia.

He said since then the refinery had improved its safety levels and exceeded the expected tonnes of production.

Last year, however, Mr Msiska said Total for business reasons, decided to pull out of Indeni and the Government had been talking to the firm since then.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) Limited has disclosed that the power transformer that was purchased to replace the burnt unit at Lusaka’s Leopards Hill substation has been delayed due to rehabilitation works in transitory routes.

Briefing the media on the status of the 125 megawatt transformer on Wednesday, Zesco senior marketing and public relations manager Lucy Zimba explained that the transformer docked at the port of Durban on time but could not be transported to Zambia due to rehabilitation works in readiness for the 2010 World Cup in neighbouring countries.

“The delay is due to the clash of interests and set stringent deadlines by different interest groups. The transformer docked on time at Durban Port but could not proceed to Zambia because of the road works going on in neighbouring countries in preparation for the 2010 World Cup,” she said.

Zimba said the transformer is expected to arrive in Lusaka by November 20, and installation would begin immediately.

“The transformer is expected to arrive in Lusaka around November 20, 2009. The works of installing the unit will commence as soon as the transformer arrives because all other accessories have already arrived at Chirundu Border Post,” she said.

Zimba assured that once the transformer was in place, power supply to the affected areas would be normalised.

The transformer has been acquired at a cost of US $3 million.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) has reversed the decision to increase the prices of petroleum products, ERB Chairman Sikota Wina has said.

The dramatic turn of events came late Thursday evening when Wina rushed to state-owned ZNBC television to withdraw the ERB’s acting chief executive officer Lukonde Mfula’s announced hike of fuel prices.

In an earlier statement press statement Mfula announced that petrol would be increased by K1, 114 (19.15 %), Diesel, K548 (10.01 %) and Kerosene by K383, (10%).

The benchmark prices for Lusaka was intended to reflect at K6,026 for diesel, K6,932 petrol and K4,217 for Kerosene as of today.

He said the price change had been necessitated by oil price increases on the international market and also the inclusion of a K65 per litre cost line that had been introduced to finance the cost of holding 15 days statutory operating stocks by all Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

He further said the price review had also been necessitated by the importation of refined petroleum products during the on-going shutdown of Indeni Oil Refinery for its annual maintenance.

Wina however made an announcement that the earlier statement made by Mfula had been withdrawn.

“ERB wishes to inform the public that the price adjustment of petroleum products announced yesterday, Thursday (October 29, 2009) has been withdrawn with immediate effect.”

“At present, there are other more pressing matters concerning fuel supply stability in the country and fuel pricing is not one of them,” said Wina.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

The Government will determine the future of Indeni Petroleum Refinery once the purchase of 50 per cent shares from Total has been completed, Energy and Water Development Permanent Secretary, Peter Mumba has said.

Total has indicated its intention to pull out of the refinery, and the Government wants to buy back the 50 per cent shares, but it has not yet decided if it would take full ownership or re-offer the partial shareholding to another investor.

Mr Mumba said the Government was waiting for the conclusion of Total’s pull-out and subsequent assumption of total ownership of the refinery before making a decision of its future.

“I can simply say that once the exercise of the shares is completed, we shall go back to the drawing board as Government and re-examine the future of Indeni,” he said.

Speaking in Lusaka, Mr Mumba said Indeni Petroleum Refinery in its current form could not meet the demands of the economy, hence the need for the Government to re-examine it.

“Indeni in its present form cannot meet the demand of this economy, that is why you have seen that any little shake-up of the whole country is rolled to the ground,” he said.

Mr Mumba said the capacity of Indeni refinery was not sufficient and, therefore, the plant needed huge sums of money to bring it to the level where it could satisfy the demand of the economy.

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By ZamChro Correspondent

The petrol shortage that gripped most parts of the country in the last one week has fizzled out and normalcy returned to most service stations after the 30 million litres of the commodity imported by the Government started arriving in the country.

Energy Minister, Kenneth Konga said in Lusaka over the weekend that huge consignments of both petrol and diesel were arriving in the country on a daily basis.

Mr Konga said the consignments were part of the 30 million litres of petrol and 50 million litres imported by the Government from Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait and Kenya’s Dalbit Petroleum.

He could, however, not say how much of the two commodities was being received everyday.
The supplies are being ferried directly to Lusaka and Ndola.

Mr Konga said on a daily basis, about 400,000 litres of petrol were being released to Lusaka while Copperbelt was receiving 200,000 litres of petrol and 100,000 litres of the commodity were being distributed to the rest of the country.

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