Mines ministry stops issuing new fuel retail licences – The Namibian

MINES and energy minister Tom Alweendo said the ministry is no longer issuing new fuel retail licences.

He said new licences will only be issued in areas where no fuel retail outlet exists.

Alweendo said the ministry has been issuing too many new licences to trade in fuel, while consumption has not increased.

He was speaking at the official opening of Total Energies Okatana at Oshakati on Friday.

Alweendo said since 2018 the ministry issued 87 new retail licences, bringing the total of active licences to more than 500 countrywide.

During the same time, Alweendo said annual total fuel consumption for petrol was 429 million litres and diesel was 727 million litres.

Last year, the total fuel consumption for petrol was 338 million litres, while for diesel was 755 million litres.

From these numbers, the average volume per month per retail outlet is 56 000 litres of petrol and 121 000 litres of diesel, Alweendo said.

“These figures tell us that we have been issuing too many new licences to trade in fuel, while the consumption has not increased,” he said.

This means the same amount of fuel is now being shared among many more retail outlets, he added.

“In turn, this will mean that retail outlets are now pumping less volume and it has a negative impact on their businesses.”