Tunisia-Tunisia to mobilise all national hydrocarbon storage capacities, following international price fall

All national hydrocarbon storage capacities will be prepared in the brief term, to take benefit of the drop in international prices, while providing preference to Tunisian oil. The top decision was taken after a meeting held at the Department of Energy, Mines and Energy Transition between Minister, Mongi Marzouk and officials of the sector including representatives of the Tunisian Company of Petroleum Activities (ETAP) and the Tunisian Company of the Refining Industries (STIR).

During this meeting, it was further determined to maintain production at the level of the country’s oil fields, in coordination with ETAP and STIR, to give advantage to the use of Tunisian oil, within the boundaries of the technical capabilities of the Bizerte refinery to overcome the marketing challenges faced by the company due to the decline in the need for hydrocarbons worldwide.

The shareholders in this meeting also examined the development of prices on an international scale and noticed the low national storage volume of crude and refined oil and the decline in consumption due to hygienic containment measures. They considered a range of recommendations, including the hedging of the country’s purchases against fluctuations in the price per barrel, through Hedging (a trading technique consisting of partially or fully hedging the risk of price fluctuations on a product).

They decided, however, that the use of Hedging requires exceptional funding from the Ministry of Finance, and that it is an inappropriate proposal at this time and until the end of the year.

They also decided to adopt an integrated energy policy that promotes investment in energy management, strengthening storage capacity and promoting exploration while accelerating the adoption of renewable energy.