纳米比亚航油污染导致短缺延续，Lufthansa部分航班绕飞安哥拉加油

A jet fuel shortage in Namibia that has forced airlines to redirect flights could extend until the weekend, after a contaminated cargo left trading house Vitol Group rushing to replace supply for its customers in the country.

The southern African nation’s airports have been pitched into a crisis since last week, when a cargo imported by Vitol’s Vivo Energy Namibia was found to be tainted by gasoline loaded onto the same vessel, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media. The trading house has indicated that it expects to have supplies available in Namibia by this weekend, some of the people said.

The disruption highlights the acute fuel supply tightness faced by some southern and eastern African nations because of the war in the Middle East. As the conflict sent energy markets reeling in its early months, Namibia was among a handful of countries in the region that turned to Vitol to secure fuel.

Namibia’s ministry of industries, mines and energy said a jet fuel cargo has been quarantined after an inspection by Trafigura Group’s Puma Energy Namibia, which was receiving the shipment in replacement for a consignment it had lent to Vivo. The ministry estimated the shortage would persist until Saturday.

The cause of the contamination remains under investigation, and no off-specification fuel was supplied for use in aircraft, Vivo said in response to questions. One replacement consignment has already been cleared for use and dispatched to customers, and another is on its way to Namibia’s Walvis Bay port, Vivo added, without specifying the timing or volume of either shipment.

Deutsche Lufthansa AGwas forced to divert some direct flights to Germany from Namibia for a short stop at Luanda International Airport in Angola because of the fuel shortage, according to an emailed response to questions. Airline partners also asked Lufthansa Cargo to temporarily stop loading shipments into the belly of their aircraft in order to reduce weight and save fuel, a company spokesperson said.

Also See: Vitol Won Exclusive Fuel Deals to Dominate Africa — at a Cost

Namibia depends on imported fuel, much of which was sourced from Persian Gulf producers before the US and Israel went to war with Iran in February. Vitol, the world’s largest commodity trader and a major player in Africa, offered to provide a steady supply.

Some crude oil has continued to transit the Strait of Hormuz as tankers make the crossing covertly, but exports of refined products have been much more limited. Meanwhile, refineries elsewhere have diverted supplies away from Africa to higher-paying buyers in Europe, where Ukrainian attacks on Russian fuel plants have intensified a supply crunch, according to traders.

In May, local oil companies were told the government had decided to mitigate supply concerns stemming from the conflict by giving Vitol exclusive rights to supply gasoline and diesel from July through September via its Vivo unit.

The move drew criticism from opposition lawmakers and rival energy companies, which questioned whether the emergency justified abandoning a system that allowed multiple importers to compete for tenders.

The Namibian government stressed that the current shortage is entirely unrelated to the arrangement with Vitol, which didn’t include jet fuel.

“Any implication of Government, or of the government-directed fuel supply arrangement, in what is a commercial matter between the two companies is entirely incorrect,” the ministry said in a statement.

Yet, some fear the deal effectively made Vitol the country’s sole oil products supplier because it became uneconomical for competitors to import just aviation kerosene, given the small volumes sold to the country.