In May of this year, the State Construction Control Bureau (SCCB) has initiated checks on the places of storage of emergency stocks of fuel in the territory of Latvia making sure of the quality of almost 817 thousand tonnes of diesel and petrol and their availability in the event of a country-wide energy crisis or national threat.
On 12 December 2018, the Ministry of Economics (MoE) entered into contracts with nine merchants – SIA Pirmas, UAB Okseta, UAB Baltic Petroleum, SIA Circle K Latvia, AS Ventbunkers, SIA RDZ Energy, Gunvor SA, Vitol SA and Mercuria Energy Trading SA – for two years within the framework of the procurement “Provision of the Service of Emergency Stocks for the Establishment of the State Emergency Stocks of Oil”. In April 2020, the MoE authorised the Bureau to perform control of the emergency stocks. The first five checks are to take place in May this year at the merchants in Latvia by making volume and density measurements of the stored fuel, as well as carrying out documentary inspections of measuring instruments and other storage equipment.
“The COVID-19 crisis shows that public institutions should plan use of different stocks even more thoroughly and insure against their lack, as well as seriously engage in the control of suppliers. Taking into account that the Bureau has become responsible for a very important task – to ensure that oil stocks are available to emergency services and other strategic consumers in the event of a crisis, the further approach to the procurement of such stocks will be reviewed, and at the same time we will address control of the existing stocks,” explains Svetlana Mjakuškina, Director of the Bureau.
The SCCB intends to overall conduct 15 checks on the emergency stocks in Latvia, as well as four checks in Lithuania, the Netherlands and Switzerland by the end of this year, allowing a possibility to increase the number of checks. The task of the Bureau is to make sure of the quality and availability of almost 817 thousand tonnes of the State emergency stocks of oil which the merchants must store over the duration of the contract, provide and be able to supply in the event of a country-wide or local energy crisis or national threat.
Starting from 1 January 2020, the SCCB has administered oil issues taking over this function from the MoE. In the first quarter of this year, the Bureau has been actively working on the sorting out of administrative issues in this field, as well as has started working on new procurement of fuel emergency stocks, so that at the end of 2020 it would be possible to conclude new contracts for the storage of fuel with the purpose of providing energy users of different groups with the supply of oil in the event of a country-wide energy crisis declared for a 90-day period or national threat.
Information prepared by:
Jūlija Eizenberga, Public Relations Specialist, State Construction Control Bureau
E-mail: Julija.Eizenberga@bvkb.gov.lv, phone: 67013327, 29482328