Morocco has storage capacities of 1.9 million cubic meters of liquid petroleum products and about half a million cubic meters of liquefied petroleum gas, the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, said on Tuesday.
In response to a central question during the oral question session in the House of Councillors on the status of the stock of basic energy materials, Benali stressed that according to the latest data, the stock of petroleum products has reached more than 30 days of national consumption, noting that her Department is working to accelerate all projects, especially in the private sector, to develop additional storage capacity for the storage of petroleum materials, which will reach more than half a million cubic meters, or about 13 additional days, with a financial investment of about 2 billion dirhams by 2023.
Regarding the legal framework, the Minister noted that the law No. 009.71 and resolution No. 393.76 do not give the state a direct role in the creation of a reserve stock that strengthens the supply, nor with regard to strategic stocks that can affect prices, adding that the legal framework relating to the reserve stock does not take into account today the basic materials that are consumed by Moroccans or the Moroccan economic fabric.
The Ministry, she stressed, has begun since 2022, as part of a participatory approach with the sector’s stakeholders, to work to update this legal framework, noting that a committee has been established to plan the infrastructure of energy products with the Ministry of Equipment and Water, working, according to a study, to plan energy flows in a balanced way and develop all the infrastructure necessary to improve the competitive capacity of Morocco. The results of this study will be used after its completion to implement the new reserve stock management system and improve storage capacity in a balanced way throughout the Kingdom.
As for natural gas, Benali explained that the ministry has been working since October 2021 to develop an urgent plan that includes four stages, noting that her department is currently working on the fourth stage, which is the master plan of infrastructure.
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