Pretoria - Liberia's current fuel stocks would only last 48 days, and inadequate contingency measures could mean a looming fuel crisis, the country's refinery head has said.
According to a Liberian publication, New Dawn, the managing director of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC) Marie-Urey Coleman said a vessel with 15,000 metric tons of gasoline was expected to arrive in the country by March 10.
Coleman told the Liberian Senate that the entity lacked the financial strength to import petroleum, leaving it reliant on private importers.
It was also reported that prior to the recent petroleum crisis, Coleman tried to obtain credit from commercial banks so that LPRC could import its own products to bolster reserves.
The LPRC had not brought in its own products in about 15 to 20 years, she said.
She told the senate that there was a need for government to get the LPRC back to normality so that products could be imported, noting that by law, the entity should be the importer of petroleum products.