Zimbabwe's oil industry is waiting for government to set a deadline for the phasing out of leaded petrol before it can start to officially import the environmentally friendly unleaded petrol, an official said on Monday.

The official said the importation of unleaded petrol would depend on the capacity of regional suppliers to provide consistent supplies of the commodity. Zimbabwe gets most of its fuel from South Africa and Mozambique.

"We want to move to unleaded petrol because that is the worldwide direction," the official said. "But we have to do it in a very organized manner and we are working closely with the government."

The official said the oil industry would have to wait until South Africa and Mozambique were in a position to provide adequate supplies to the country. At the moment, the industry imports unleaded petrol on a small-scale to cater for cars that only use that type of petrol.

"As an industry, we have not officially started importing unleaded petrol," he said. The official expressed hope that, by June, the country would be starting the transition to unleaded petrol.

South Africa is said to be at advanced stages of phasing out leaded petrol. Recently, the country experienced disruptions in fuel supplies as companies were cleaning up tanks and ensuring that they comply with the requirements of the new type of fuel.

Zimbabwe and many African countries still use leaded petrol, which has the disadvantage of causing air pollution, though it is cheap.

Source: Xinhua