Zimbabwe fuel supplies dwindle as imports stalled

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe has less than five days worth of fuel stocks with no immediate prospects for fresh supplies, industry officials said.

Most garages ran out of fuel stocks on Thursday and one industry official, who declined to be named, said state oil importer National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) had no foreign currency to buy more.

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"We have run out of both diesel and petrol and from what we gather there are no prospects for fresh supplies any time soon," one attendant at a Harare garage said.

A coalition of oil industry stakeholders said the fuel situation "is extremely critical countrywide" and urged motorists to conserve fuel so that essential services could remain in operation.

Zimbabwe has been grappling with a fuel shortage since NOCZIM had its credit lines cut over a Z$9 billion ($180 million) debt. Several of the company's senior managers have since been arrested for alleged corruption. NOCZIM has also been hit by an acute foreign currency shortage.

Last month President Robert Mugabe raised fuel prices by up to 26 percent and promised more hikes, saying NOCZIM was selling petroleum products at prices of between 30 and 40 percent below the cost of procurement.

On Thursday, the private-owned Daily News quoted a NOCZIM official as saying Zimbabwe's fuel suppliers, including Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait, were withholding deliveries because of non-payment.

The official said a number of fuel tanks were docked at neighboring Mozambique's port of Beira but no fuel could be piped to land-locked Zimbabwe since the suppliers had not been paid.

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