TIPER directed to disconnect pipeline

THE government has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Tanzania International Petroleum Limited (TIPER) management to disconnect its oil pipeline at Kurasini Oil Jetty (KOJ) Facility and instead tap oil fuel from Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA)’s new manifold.

The order comes in the wake of the company’s defiance of an order issued by the government issued about two years ago. The failure by the oil firm to heed to the government’s directive emerged yesterday when Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communication responsible for Communication, Engineer Atashasta Nditiye, made a familiarisation tour of TPA.

The government also ordered TPA to form a task force embracing experts from the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) and Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to establish the amount of government revenue lost as a result of TIPER’s use of its oil pipeline in tapping oil from KOJ Facility to its reserve tanks at Kigamboni site.

In February last year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa issued a one-month ultimatum to TIPER to immediately disconnect its illegal oil pipeline and instead connect it to TPA’s new manifold that supplies oil to other distributors.

“The decision by TIPER to have its pipeline from KOJ Facility directly to its reserve tanks at Kigamboni denies the government of its rightful revenue because TPA does not have any control of the pipeline,” Deputy Minister Nditiye pointed out.

Briefing the guest earlier, the Dar es Salaam Port Oil Manager, Captain Paul Paul, said TIPER had not complied with the directives issued by the premier, prompting Mr Nditiye to make an impromptu visit to theTIPER site at Kigamboni.

While at the site, the deputy minister proved that the oil firm was still tapping fuel from the KOJ Facility to it reserve tanks, bypassing TPA’s system of pumping oil to all distributors’ reserve facilities located at Kigamboni.

The TIPER Deputy Director, Mr Paul Mzava, denied claims of owning the illegal pipeline, maintaining that the oil channel was handed over to TPA, something that seemed to baffle the TPA management. Manifold is an inlet connecting flow lines from a main fuel depot to distributors.

Dar es Salaam Port, through its KOJ facility, supplies oil via its new manifold located at Kigamboni to four distributors with storage facilities in the area. These are World Oil, Lake Oil, Moil and Kobil. TIPER is the only oil firm that bypasses oil to its storage facility at Kigamboni area.

Tiper, which is jointly owned by the Treasury and Addax Oryx, has the largest fuel reserve tanks with a capacity of over 141,000 cubic metres. Dar es Salaam Port officials who were around during the deputy minister’s tour yesterday said TIPER’s use of the pipeline was indeed denying the government of its rightful revenue as neither TPA nor TRA was able to establish the amount of oil pumped to its storage facilities at Kigamboni.

Earlier, the deputy minister hailed TPA’s performance, and asked the authority to expedite implementation of various projects aimed at making its ports, especially the Dar es Salaam harbour, more competitive. Projects being implemented by TPA include deepening and strengthening of existing berths 1 to 7, installation of scanners, construction of dry ports, improvement of security systems at ports, and manpower development.


The deputy minister asked TPA to construct Kastosho Dry Port in Kigoma Region to store cargo destined for DR Congo and Burundi but, according to TPA Director General Engineer Kakoko, preparations for construction of a dry port were on course. The deputy minister also toured Bandari College where he spoke to board and staff members.