Burkina Faso: Shortage of cooking gas

The Burkinabe National Petroleum Corporation (SONABHY) is in trouble. The butane reserve tanks are desperately empty, and the population is torn between anger and despair when they wonder where are the effects of measures taken by the national oil company to minimise the shortage consequences.

Its main supplier, the Faso platform providing the sub-region, is closed due to overhaul works. This shortage crisis is showing the weakness of the supply system and storage of the SONABHY Corporation, with its famous safety stock that has not held a month. It is unfair of a country that has decided to make the use of butane gas as a priority in order to alleviate the pressure on its timber resources, buffeted by the cutting of firewood.

It is imperative that Burkina draws lessons from this shortage by strengthening not only its storage capacity but also by diversifying its sources. The excessive dependence vis-à-vis the Cotonou port has just shown its limits, whatever the reasons might be at the origin. The Ghanaian and Ivory Coast corridors should not be only stopgaps at this difficult time. It is imperative to work on securing the supply of gas through these countries because if the coastal countries themselves are affected by domestic gas shortages, a solution must be considered at the level of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), including Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Ivory coast and  Niger.

Fuel and gas are vital products for the economy and it is unforgivable that the Faso authorities be again surprised.          A landlocked country cannot afford unpredictability. Officials must therefore be aware enough to find ways to cope with the situation; otherwise, one day things could go down and the people expectations might be totally alienated, driving them in turmoil or civil uprising.

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