The Mozambique-Zimbabwe Pipeline Company (CPMZ) will increase capacity of its Beira-Harare oil products pipeline by two thirds to 5mn m³/yr by 2027, the company's general director Elsie Madeira Abdulla said today.
The 294km pipeline, which transports diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from Mozambique's port of Beira to Harare, currently operates at 3mn m³/yr.
The CPMZ pipeline is 50pc controlled by Mozambique and the rest by private shareholders. It previously raised capacity from 2.2mn m³/yr in 2024. The company could expand further to 8mn-10mn m³/yr without halting operations, Abdulla told the Arda conference in Cape Town.
CPMZ oil product volumes are on track to hit 2.8mn m³ this year, up from 2mn m³/yr in 2023. Arrivals of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel at Beira rose by more than a third to 60,000 b/d in this period, according to Kpler tracking data.
Higher oil product consumption in Zambia, Malawi and Botswana is behind the stronger pipeline flows, Abdulla said.
Sub-Saharan African fuel demand is forecast to rise strongly, because of population growth. Consultancy Citac puts gasoline demand rising by around 50pc from 2023 to 60mn t/yr by 2040, and gasoil demand rising by 59pc to above 70mn t/yr. This is spurring conversations among stakeholders about midstream infrastructure projects, and African countries are preparing to cover domestic production shortfalls through modernisation and expansion of existing transport and storage infrastructure ahead of refinery project start-ups.
CPMZ is co-ordinating with port and storage stakeholders in Beira as pipeline expansion continues, Abdulla said.
Oil product distribution by pipeline is rare in Africa, with 83pc transported by truck, according to Puma Energy South Africa's general manager Amanda Lopez. Sub-Saharan Africa had just 13,264km of operational product pipelines as of 2024, compared with more than 100,000km in the US, according to Citac.
