This archive report was first published on 1 July 2020.
On July 1, 2020, Tanzanian authorities took a significant step in addressing the country's fuel shortage by arresting three oil executives.
The executives, including Total Tanzania's managing director Jean-Francois Schoepp, Puma Supply Manager Adam Eliewinga, and Oryx's representative August Dominick, were taken into custody during a consultative meeting between oil marketers and the Energy and Water Regulatory Authority (Ewura) in Dar es Salaam.
The meeting aimed to resolve fuel supply chain challenges, but the regulator accused oil marketing firms of disrupting the distribution of petroleum products, causing artificial shortages.
According to Ewura, some operators were hoarding petroleum at a time when prices had gone down, exacerbating the shortage.
As a result, Ewura announced its intention to revoke the licences of five oil marketers, including Moil, Olympic Petroleum, and three petroleum filling stations operators.
However, Mansour Oil Industries Limited (Moil) issued a public apology and agreed to pay a fine of Tsh10 million (about Ksh459,000) slapped by Ewura.
