Zambia planning to double fuel storage capacity in 5 years

Zambia plans to double its national bulk fuel storage capacity to one month from the present 15 days over the next five years, in a bid to bolster economic growth and maintain steady fuel supplies. Under the Sixth National Development Plan, the government wants to achieve a 100% increase in the existing infrastructure for strategic bulk petroleum reserves and will spread the location of storage facilities into rural areas. Zambia imports as much as 180,000 metric tons of crude oil every 45 days from Kuwait through Tanzania, and pumps the crude via a 1,700 kilometer pipeline to the country’s sole refinery, Indeni in Ndola. (February 15, 2011)