Mugabe may seize oil giants' assets

The Times ^ | December 16, 2002 | Jan Raath

[MadIvan]

PRESIDENT MUGABE of Zimbabwe has threatened to seize the facilities of leading oil companies operating in the country and use them to distribute fuel.

At the annual congress of his ruling Zanu (PF) party, Mr Mugabe said that the Government could “acquire” service stations and storage facilities, compensate the companies to which they belonged and dispense the fuel. There are five multinational oil firms with a presence in Zimbabwe — BP, Shell, Mobil, Total and Caltex — and their assets there are worth millions of pounds.

Lawyers said that such a move would be illegal. One lawyer, who did not wish to be identified, said: “It would be patently unconstitutional. Besides, most of the international oil companies are covered by bilateral treaties from this kind of nationalisation.”

The President’s remarks came two weeks after the Government said that it was drafting a new policy within its so-called indigenisation programme to allocate fuel supplies to the 24 “independent” companies licensed to retail fuel, nearly all of which are owned by senior Zanu (PF) officials.

Fuel reserves in the country have reached their lowest levels in three years, since leading oil companies cut off supplies to the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) when the Government failed to pay arrears for imports.

In the past week the queues of drivers have lengthened and more service stations have been putting up “no fuel” signs. Vehicles abandoned at the roadside for lack of fuel have become commonplace.

In Chinhoyi, the venue of the conference, fuel was available only for party officials. A journalist was told at a Mobil service station that he could buy petrol only if he could prove that he was a delegate.

Mr Mugabe said that the oil companies were making huge profits while the Government made losses from importing fuel via Noczim, which sells it on to the multinationals to distribute. However, industry executives said that Noczim’s enormous losses were a result of price controls that forced it to sell fuel at the equivalent of about 3p per litre while buying it for about ten times that price.

Mr Mugabe has ignored Noczim’s pleas for a price increase.

Economists say that total state control over fuel distribution would condemn the industry to the same failure affecting much of the country’s agriculture, transport, mining, telecommunications, railways and power industries.

“Mugabe’s thinking is that taps make water,” a Western diplomat said. “If he goes ahead (with the takeover of multinational service stations), the country will dry up far quicker than it is doing already.”

[aristeides]

Do Not Interfere with Sub-Cultures!

Didn't 9/11 put an end to that?

[MeekOneGOP]

It's MINE, mine...all MINE !!