Minister of Energy and Mineral, George Simbachawene
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Minister says the government must restructure the operation of Tiper because of its significance in enabling the petroleum subsector to contribute more
Dar es Salaam. The government has promised to revive the lost glory of the defunct Tanzania Italian Petroleum Refinery (Tiper) in a bid to enhance its contribution to the national economy.
In a statement circulated on Friday, the minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr George Simbachawene, said that the government must restructure the operation of Tiper because of its significance in enabling the petroleum subsector to contribute more to the national economy.
“Since Tiper is very important in running the national economy, the government must restructure it in order to increase its capacity to contribute more to national economic development,” Mr Simbachawe said in a statement after visiting the company last week.
Tiper is now operating as Tanzania International Petroleum Reserve, as Tanzania and Italian Petroleum Refinery (Tiper) stopped production in the mid 1990s after operating since 1969.
Before the 1990s Tiper had a refining capacity of 875 kilo tonnes per annum, but it was operating at 60 per cent of its total capacity by the time of closure.
Tiper is now playing the role of providing storage facilities to oil importing companies under the bulk oil procurement system introduced.
According to government report released during 2015/16 Parliamentary budget meetings, the government still owns 50 per cent of shares in Tiper, while the remaining 50 per cent is owned by foreign investors under International Petroleum Reserve Ltd.
According to the Energy and Minerals minister, the government also has a plan to review the contract on Tiper operations in order to increase operational efficiency.
“When we will be able to strengthen Tiper and join it with Puma Energy, we will be able to run the petroleum subsector at high level of efficiency. I know there are pending problems, but we are committed to tackling them to attain a permanent solution,” said the minister.
The government also owns 50 per cent shares in Puma Energy, one of the big oil importing companies in the country.
