Story by Stanley James, Business Editor
Zimbabwe has tightened monitoring of the petroleum sector’s compliance to the mandatory blending of petrol as errant operators risk losing licences and closure of service stations.
A notice to petroleum sector operators issued by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) this this Friday states that requirements outlined in the Statutory Instrument 150 of 2024 for operators to blend unleaded petrol with ethanol are still in motion.
Responding to inquiries from ZBC News over the issue, ZERA chief executive officer, Mr Eddington Mazambani said the regulatory authorities have embarked on a country fact-finding mission to monitor and evaluate compliance.
“The entire mission is for us to look and assess into the needs of the nation regarding what needs to be done as far as ensuring that compliance becomes a national issue. As the regulatory authority, the focus is on what we can do to ensure that the entire issue becomes a success. Currently, a lot of groundwork has been covered and we shall roll out more inspections to assess and ensure that our aspirations are taken into effect by the relevant stakeholders for the benefit of the nation,” he said.
With revelations that some players in the petroleum sector are failing to comply with the directive on mandatory blending, ZERA says they risk losing licences and closure of their operations.
“This is a serious issue that I would like to inform the nation that those operators who are not willing to observe or comply with the requirements of the Statutory Instrument face closure. It is through our inspections that we will see and identify compliance, assess the levels and take the necessary steps as we seek to ensure that the road map to mandatory blending is maintained in all parts of the country,” noted Mr Mazambani.
In terms of the regulations, all petrol sold in Zimbabwe must be blended with ethanol before sale in line with Zimbabwe’s aspiration of embracing biofuels.
