NOIC rolls out US$20m Feruka pipeline upgrade

PETROZIM Line Limited (PZL), in partnership with Companhia do Pipeline Moçambique – Zimbabwe (CPMZ), intends to invest US$20 million towards upgrading pumping capacity on the Feruka pipeline.

The Zimbabwean petroleum company said the planned upgrades would enhance the pipeline’s throughput to 3 billion liters per year from the current 2,19 billion liters.

Nearly 90 percent of fuel used in Zimbabwe is imported via the Feruka pipeline, which is operated by CPMZ. The remainder is transported by fuel tankers, mostly through South Africa.

The first phase of the project is expected to cost around US$15 million while the second would chew US$5 million, which is expected to be generated from internal resources.

In his remarks at the PZL annual general meeting board chairman Engineer Daniel Mackenzie Ncube said the project was meant to establish Harare as the regional hub for fuel distribution.

The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2023.

“In line with the National Vision to establish Harare as the regional hub for fuel distribution, PZL, in conjunction with its Mozambican counterpart, CPMZ is upgrading the pumping capacity of the pipeline from an annual volume  of 2,19 billion litres to three 3 billion litres,” said Eng Ncube

According to Eng Ncube, the objective is to achieve a capacity of 5 billion litres per annum by 2025.

He said the project would immensely contribute towards the preservation of the road infrastructure due to reduced traffic by the fuel tankers.

“The utilisation of future capacity will result in the generation of additional foreign currency revenue for the business and the nation at large, as well as preservation of the road infrastructure through reduced volumes of fuel tanker traffic,” he added.

In 2021 PZL pumped a total of 1,19 billion litres from Feruka to Msasa, a marginal decline from 1,22 billion litres pumped from Feruka to Msasa In 2020.

These volumes translate to daily volumes of 6 million litres currently and 8,2 million after the upgrade.

PetroZim executive director Peter Masvikeni indicated that the project had gone through the designing phase and the construction is expected to begin in the third quarter of the year.

 “With respect to the progress on the capacity upgrade, so far we have completed the detailed designs of the upgrade project for both the first and the second phase.

“We have now gone into the phase of procurement, where to date we have contracted six vendors for the supply of critical equipment which will start arriving during the third and fourth quarter of this year and we then expect construction works to commence in the third quarter,” said Mr Masvikeni.

This project dovetails into the Government’s national vision under the set targets of the National Development Strategy (NDS 1)

PetroZim Line, which is a division of the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe (NOIC) owns the pipelines, which transports petroleum products from Feruka to Harare for distribution within the country and into the hinterland markets.

The company operates in a sector mandated to ensure constant supply of energy wherever and whenever required in the country.

Given the anticipated developments of the pipeline, the PetroZim Board approved, that the declaration of a dividend be waived in order to channel financial resources towards this critical project.