African energy multinational Engen has decided to develop Namibia’s Ondangwa fuel depot, which is the company’s third investment in the west African nation
Construction on the depot is expected to begin later this year and completed by April 2015, said Engen International business division's supply and operations manager Wikus Strydom.
The company’s first investment in Namibia was the Walvis Bay depot upgrade, where an additional 20,000 cu/m of storage was added. Next, the company completed the construction of the Grootfontein depot.
Engen international business division general manager Drikus Kotze said that the company’s modernisation and expansion initiatives in the country have totalled US$11.4mn. The company is focusing on a south-to-central African fuel supply strategy.
He explained that products coming into the country would be shipped into Walvis Bay and distributed via rail and road to a network of depots, retail and commercial facilities. The Grootfontein facility will supply the whole of northern Namibia until Ondangwa comes online in 2016.
In addition, Engen has upgraded a long-haul truck stop in Rundu in the north-east of Namibia, catering for trucks moving along the Trans-Kalahari towards Katima Mulilo, Zambia and further north, following economic activity in the region.
On the Northern Namibian side (Ongwediva, Oshakati and Ondangwa), the company has service stations for diesel customers to fill up using Engen’s eFuel refuelling system or EDC fleet management system.
