Indigenous-owned company, Comoil Limited says it is set to expand its operations after acquiring two sites bringing the number to seven.
Speaking to the media recently Comoil managing director Natasha Kasukuwere-Zinyemba, who is one of the few women at the helm of petroleum firms, said at present, the company operates five retail sites, which are located in Harare, Dotito, Kadoma, Lupane and Mutare.
“We plan to grow this number as there are plans to develop new service stations.”
Kasukuwere-Zinyemba said that in addition to the sites, the company also plans to grow its list of commercial clients, which range from farms, mines and manufacturers.
The petroleum company is now debt free and this will enable the business to focus solely on growing its operations and on improving its supply agreements with fuel traders. She noted that the operating environment, while challenging, had been stabilised by government policies particularly when they shifted to US dollar trading for service stations. “This alleviated shortages.”
The energy firm was established in 2000 after the liberalisation of the petroleum marketing and distribution sector in Zimbabwe. The industry had been dominated by foreign owned brands such as Total and BP and the change in government regulation offered indigenous business people with an interest in energy to also have a seat on the table. This also gave birth to fuel businesses such as Sakunda and Glow Petroleum among others.
Meanwhile, the country continues to see an increase in fuel consumption with statistics from the regulator, Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority showing that petrol use increased 19 percent to 613.72 million litres in 2022 from 513.71 million litres in 2021. Diesel consumption hit its highest total yet for the country at 1.04 billion litres from 849.6 billion litres. Diesel is also used to power back-up generators for industry and ordinary citizens who will be under load shedding.