Russia's petroleum company Rosneft is to construct a new pipeline for refined products from the port of Beira in the central Mozambican province of Sofala to the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. The pipeline will also supply oil for Zambia, Malawi and Botswana.
Roman Trotsenko of Rosneft told the Russian news agency TASS that "we will prepare legal documents, a joint venture agreement and will get all permits for the pipeline by the year end".
He explained that the agreements are complicated by the necessity of covering two jurisdictions. He added that when other countries join the project, "we will have a large-scale intergovernmental agreement between six countries".
According to Trotsenko, Zimbabwe currently consumes five million tonnes of oil products a year, which is beyond the full capacity of the current oil pipeline. As a result, some oil products are imported by road over a distance of up to 800 kilometres.
Trotsenko stated that Rosneft has obtained a permit from the Mozambique government to increase the current pipeline's capacity, which will involve a new pipeline through a joint venture between Russia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
The cost of the first stage of the project is put at 700 million US dollars, to be funded by a consortium set up by Rosneft.
