FUEL REQUIREMENTS FRUSTRATE SMES, FARMERS

MBABANE - There is a general feeling that the bulk fuel statutory requirements are not small and medium enterprises (SMEs)-friendly.

Through Eswatini Government Extraordinary Gazette No. 50 of April 21, 2021, bulk fuel statutory requirements were announced for both commercial and retail customers. Some small farmers who have fuel bowsers on their sites feel that they will suffer alongside other SMES as a result of the licensing requirements as the E10 000 licence fee is mandatory across the board. “This is going to affect anyone with a site fuel bowser exceeding 50 litres. “There are no exceptions for farmers or SMEs. There are added ‘hidden’ costs of health and safety site reports,” reads one of the concerns registered with this publication. Some of the oil companies and fuel stations have already pinned notices at their sites informing customers about the new arrangement.

Stations

In the notice, one of the fuel stations advised the customers to apply for the licence through Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA) to operate their bulk fuel facility before September 30 this year as per the legal requirement. The licence fee is the E10 000 which is renewable annually. ESERA is a statutory Energy Regulatory Body established through the Energy Regulatory Act, 2007 (Act No.2 of 2007). A valid bulk supply agreement between a company and a fuel supplier is one of the licence’s required supporting documents.

Federation of Eswatini Business Community (FESBC) President Henry ‘Tum’ du Pont said they tried everything, but government would not compromise unfortunately. Manager Consumer and Stakeholder Management at ESERA Sikhumbuzo Nkambule had politely asked for his office to be given more time to respond to concerns when sought for comment. He was responding to a follow up to a questionnaire sent on Friday.  Early this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy informed the public and all key stakeholders in the petroleum sector about the coming into effect of the Petroleum Act, 2020 with effect from February 1 this year. The Act consolidates and updates all existing pieces of legislation governing the petroleum sector to ensure that the sector is well regulated.

It creates a holistic regulatory framework for the petroleum sector in the entire value chain from the upstream activities of exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream activities of refinery development, bulk storage and pipeline transportation to the downstream activities of wholesaling and distribution of petroleum products.

Activities

The Act has introduced the licensing of some activities, which were previously not regulated, such as wholesaling and retailing of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) known as ‘handy gas’. The Act also recognises and licenses fuel distributors, fuel storages, supply of Natural Gas, fuel blending and petrochemical production. The Act further allocates some responsibilities, which were previously undertaken by the Ministry to the ESERA.
ESERA is now responsible for the licensing and inspection of downstream petroleum activities. The regulator will be responsible for issuing the following licences; wholesale, retail, commercial consumers, Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), distribution, storage, blending, natural gas and petrochemical licences.

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