Nigerian firm wins oil import tender for February

SAHARA Energy Limited, a Nigerian oil company, has won a tender to import fuel under the Petroleum Bulk Procurement System (BPS) for the month of February next year.

The tender held in Dar es Salaam attracted five oil companies and was awarded to Sahara after offering the lowest Weighted Average Premium per Metric Ton of 43.599 US dollars per MT.

“With all previous tenders, I believe this was the most competitive, because if you look closely they all quoted very competitive prices, and they are only separated by a tiny margin,” said the Petroleum Importation Coordinator (PIC) General Manager, Michael Mjinja.

Other companies that participated in the tender include Addax Energy SA which quoted 43.657 US dollars per MT, Augusta Energy SA (43.912 US dollars per MT) Gapco (K) Ltd (43.938 US dollars per MT) and Enoc Africa Limited which offered 43.840 MT.He said Sahara was pronounced the winner after meeting all the tender requirements and proving that its offer would most benefit the country, traders and consumers.

Mr Mjinja however said that this will be the last tender to be conducted by PIC, saying that henceforth the exercise will be conducted by a government agency which has been created for that purpose.

He said that they hope that PIC will be incorporated into the government agency, but was optimistic that the government has the interest of Tanzanian consumers at heart and will make sure that petroleum prices remain competitive.

Mr Mjinja said it was delighting to see local companies like ENOC Africa coming up to pose a challenge to giant foreign international oil companies which had previously dominated the sector by frequently winning such tenders.

“With the transparent manner in which the winning bidder is picked, oil marketing companies are satisfied with the process. They do accept decisions made openly and unanimously in picking the winning bidder,” said Mr Mjinja.

He said that the system has helped in improving quality of petroleum products, stabilized cup prices, improved taxation and has helped to reduce demurrages at the port, adding that apart from transparency and increasing government revenue, the BPS has also assisted the country to save foreign currency used to purchase petroleum products.

Tanzania consumes about 1.54 million cubic metres per annum of petroleum products.

/Daily News.