Country has adequate reserves: Zera

Business Reporter
Zimbabwe stopped the importation of diesel 500 from November 1, 2017, and is hoping to fully embrace D50 by March 2018. Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera chief executive officer Engineer Gloria Magombo, said that the country has adequate local reserves that can last till the March 2018 deadline.

The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority says it will clear all stocks of Diesel 500 by March next year as the country targets to switch to marking 100 percent use of Diesel 50 in Zimbabwe. By introducing D50, Government wants to reduce carbon emissions and cater for modern vehicles. D50 has lower sulphur content, with the chemical element occurring at 50 parts per million (ppm).

Standard grade diesel has at least 500 ppm, and such high sulphur concentration often leads to formation of sulphates in a car’s exhaust stream and the atmosphere. Low-sulphur fuels burn cleaner and are compatible with control devices that can significantly reduce vehicle emissions. Developed countries are already on D10, while some parts of Africa are catching on to D50.

Experts believe reducing sulphur generally increases vehicle lifespan, and curtails release of dangerous gases into the atmosphere. Sulphur is a combustible non-metal chemical that occurs naturally in crude oil. Zera acting chief executive, Engineer Misheck Siyakatshana, told The Herald Business that Zera is promoting the use of D50, which is compatible with emission-reducing devices, which are installed in the latest vehicle models.

“Government has made a pronouncement on the D50 roll-out plan, which should see D50 replacing D500 that will be phased out by March 2018. Note that this is a transitional process that takes into account the fact that oil companies already have inland stocks, which have to be cleared first. It is expected that by March 1, 2018, all inland stocks would have been cleared,” said Mr Siyakatshana.

The emission-reducing devices such as diesel particulate filters greatly reduce toxic elements in exhaust emissions, thus leading to a cleaner environment. Zimbabwe now has a significant number of vehicles with these emission-reducing devices, which require D50 only. Internationally, there has been an increase in the uptake of D50 due to increased vehicles with diesel particulate filters, hence the cost of production had been on a downward trend due to the economies of scale.