According to a recent report International trading firms are selling high fuel sulphur that is illegal in other nations to countries across Africa. Low fuel quality standards in Africa allow an average of 200 times sulphur content in Europe’s fuels that is cheaper and dirty.
“Swiss traders and others maximize profits by taking advantage of weak regulations to produce and sell harmful fuels,” the report said. “This form of regulatory arbitrage ignores the serious risks to public health.”
The report called on Swiss firms Trafigura and Addax & Oryx as well as Vitol, the world’s largest trading firm, to only sell fuel that meets higher regulatory standards according to Reuters. Vitol has said that it complies with government regulations but does not control the quality of fuel sold at the pump.
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Morocco are among the African nations that have increased fuel quality requirements.
However changing the actions of fuel trading houses only will not fix the problem but also relying on the African governments to improve the quality of fuel in Africa is paramount according to the African Refining Association.
Higher fuel quality means higher costs, something many countries facing severe shortages in public finances, are wary of due, since their populations will be angered by higher pump prices.
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