Beira, Mozambique, Aug. 24, 2026 (Lusa) - The Mozambique-Zimbabwe Pipeline Company (CPMZ) is to build two new pumping stations in two provinces of Mozambique, increasing the pipeline's transport capacity by 67% to five million cubic metres per year to meet regional demand.
In a statement, the company announced that construction work on two new pumping stations in Nhamatanda, in Sofala province, and Messica, in Manica province, in central Mozambique, will begin on 2 September, explaining that the aim is to increase the pipeline's transport capacity along a critical route serving Mozambique, Zimbabwe and various markets in southern Africa.
«The development will increase the annual transport capacity of the Beira-Feruka pipeline from three million to five million cubic metres by the end of 2027, a 67% increase that will help meet the growing demand for diesel, petrol and aviation fuel in the region,» the company's statement said.
According to the information, the company is synchronising the capacity increase with the modernisation of the Petrozim Line between Feruka and Harare, creating a seamless, higher-capacity energy corridor stretching from the port of Beira into the interior of Southern Africa.
«The project follows on from CPMZ's successful expansion of the pipeline's capacity from two million to three million cubic metres per annum by 2024. The construction and commissioning of the new pumping stations will take place while fully maintaining the pipeline's day-to-day operations and the supply of fuel to regional markets,» the statement explains.
The 294-kilometre-long Beira–Feruka pipeline in Zimbabwe forms part of the Beira Corridor, which links the port of Beira to Zimbabwe.
CPMZ was established in the second half of the 1950s, at that time under the name Mozambique-Rhodesia Pipeline Company, with the aim of developing large-scale infrastructure from the port of Beira, capable of meeting the fuel needs of the region, notably Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, which, at the time, formed part of the Central African Federation.
This plan involved the construction of an oil refinery in Feruka, Zimbabwe, and an oil pipeline to ensure the supply of crude oil from Beira, in Mozambique.
Construction of the pipeline and the refinery was completed in December 1964. The pipeline came into operation in January 1965, transporting crude oil from the port of Beira to the Feruka refinery, with an initial capacity of one million tonnes per year.
However, 10 months later, sanctions imposed following the unilateral declaration of independence by what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1965 led to a suspension of operations.
This interruption to fuel supplies lasted for 17 years.
PME/ADB // ADB.
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