ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia and Sudan have been discussing on how to resume fuel import that has been disrupted for weeks following the COVID-19 outbreak, Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise (EPSE) said.
EPSE Higher Expert, Alemayehu Tsegaye told The Ethiopian Herald that the county imports 20 percent of benzene from neighboring Sudan. In response to coronavirus disease, Sudan has closed its border with Ethiopia, but it has agreed to export benzene starting from next week.
Now fuel trucks are on the way to Metema, Ethiopian border town with Sudan, he added.
As to him, Ethiopia’s daily consumption is 2.2 million liters of benzene, of which 800,000 liters are consumed by Addis Ababa alone. Twelve fuel trucks bring benzene from Sudan per day, but due to COVID-19, Sudan has stopped its fuel export.
“Even if there is no fuel shortage in the country, we are witnessing now unreasonable long queues at some gas stations particularly in Addis Ababa.”
Some motorists have started stockpiling gasoline in their homes in fear of possible future fuel shortage in the country due to the virus, but, they should stop such psychology of panic buying soon as the country has enough fuel, he noted.
The fuel import via Djibouti has not interrupted yet. And the Ethiopian government’s decision to halt vehicle movement in some states has nothing to do with fuel shortage, he underlined.
The Ethiopian Herald April 7/2020BY ESSEYE MENGISTE
