• The failure of the installations in September resolved
• The State grants an exemption for the purchase of spare parts
• Strengthening teams to avoid traffic jams
Ln September 21, Sodigaz raised the alarm about filling difficulties which are causing shortages at these depositaries. It thus kept its customers informed of inconveniences beyond its control: “Once again, we regret to note that, despite our repeated alerts and all our efforts to anticipate, the cyclical shortage has set in again. Thus, the lack of gas currently observed in our approved points of sale unfortunately results from the fact that the filling of the quantities of bottles by SONABHY is lower than our forecast requests which were sent to them to cover all of your needs.
If nothing is done between now and then to increase the tonnages received by marketers, this situation could extend until the start of 2024, following the evolution of consumption peaks linked to the cold dry season.
On October 3, 2023, while the rumor of a shortage was gaining ground, the Director General of Sonabhy received the management team of Sodigaz and gives him the reasons for these filling difficulties. For the sake of transparency, Sodigaz relayed to its customers its meeting with the General Management of Sonabhy: “Following our previous press release on disruptions in gas distribution, a SODIGAZ team, led by the General Director, was received on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, by the Director General of SONABHY and his colleagues.
We welcome this approach by the Director General of SONABHY, which has made it possible to better understand the current arrangements to better meet the demands of all marketers. These include, among other things, the increase in staff numbers to increase the quantities of gas cylinders filled per day and the ongoing finalization of the construction of the new filling line at the SONABHY depot in Bingo. »
What was it ?
From January to August 2023, the filling lines operated normally, with an average of 438 tonnes of gas per day, corresponding to 8,400 6 kg bottles and 6,600 12.5 kg bottles.
However, during September, Sonabhy’s filling lines experienced disruptions which reduced daily capacities by nearly 100 tonnes/day. These were breakdowns linked to spare parts which reduced outputs to 360 tonnes per day instead of 438 tonnes per day, i.e. 48,000 6 kg bottles and 5,400 12.5 kg bottles. It is this drop which has aroused the concern of the marketer Sodigaz, which controls more than half of the gas distribution market shares and which quickly finds itself under pressure from its customers, as soon as there is a problem with level of Sonabhy filling centers. This concern is all the more justified as the failures occurred on the eve, almost of the peak consumption of the “cold dry season”, that is to say between November, December, January and mid-February depending on the season.
On the Sonabhy side, assurances were given to deal with the situation. An exemption has been granted to the General Management to obtain emergency spare parts. The National Hydrocarbons Authority, however, deplores the poor quality of certain bottles received from distributors.
A situation which has an impact on the quality of the installations, leading to recurring maintenance of the installations.
On the one hand, to cope with the peak, staff recruitment is actually planned. Anything that will allow 24/7 operation of the filling lines, in order to meet the increase in demand during peak periods.
Furthermore, in order to meet demand which is growing year after year, a third filling center currently under construction should make it possible to increase capacity to 90,000 bottles per day. The end of the work is scheduled for the end of May 2024, explains Sonabhy.
FW
Boxed
Subsidy, it’s climbing
L6kg and 12.5kg bottles are the packaging most used by households. A state subsidy allows households to access it.
“In view of the current outflows from January to September 2023, the subsidy amounts to approximately 4 billion 300 million, compared to 3 billion 800 million in 2022, for the same period”. An increase of 500 million CFA francs which can be explained by the increase in consumption.o
