The Zambian government said on Saturday that the country's sole oil refinery would be shut down for annual routine maintenance but ensured that the oil supply would not be affected.

Energy Minister Felix Mutati confirmed this to Xinhua in a telephone interview, saying the shutdown of Indeni Oil Refinery would last four weeks from August 1st to the end of the month.

Mutati said that in order to ensure continued supply of oil, the government would start importing finished oil products once the refurbishment begins.

He further noted that the country's general elections, which are scheduled to kick off later this year, would not be affected by the shutdown, though the shortage of oil arising from breakdown of the refinery last year paralyzed the mass transportation severely.

Indeni, co-owned by French oil major Total and the Zambian government, has been plagued by breakdowns because of obsolete equipment and was shut for almost four weeks in September last year before reopening in mid-October.

It produces more than 350,000 liters of oil and more than 1 million liters of diesel per day.

The minister said after the rehabilitation, production capacity of the refinery was expected to double which could benefit the consumers a lot.

The minister's announcement came shortly after the country's Energy Regulation Board (ERB) uplifted the oil prices on Friday.

ERB announced that it has with immediate effect increased pump prices of petrol from 5,000 kwacha (1.67 U.S. dollars) to 5,410 kwacha (1.80 dollars) per liter, which represented an 8.2 percent upward adjustment.

The energy board attributed the increase to the sky rocketing prices on the international oil market.

Zambia consumes 600,000 liters of oil and 900,000 liters of diesel per day and all its crude oil is imported via Tanzania's Dar es Salaam port.

Source: Xinhua