Zambia will push back the return of open access to its only fuel-import pipeline until January 2027, months after the International Monetary Fund urged authorities to restore the system, according to Energy Ministry Permanent Secretary Ephraim Munshifwa.

“By January, we resume open access,” Munshifwa said in comments streamed online Friday, adding that the process to do so had begun.

The Tazama pipeline, which runs 1,710 kilometres from the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam to Zambia’s copper-mining hub of Ndola, carries approximately 60% of the landlocked country’s fuel imports. Zambia suspended open access in April 2026 as the war involving Iran disrupted global energy supplies, signing an agreement with Vitol Group, the world’s largest commodity trader, granting it exclusive access to the pipeline. Officials described the arrangement as a temporary emergency measure aimed at protecting fuel supplies.

The IMF subsequently pressed Zambia to restore open access, making it a condition for continued financial support. Tazama had previously asked companies to pre-qualify to supply diesel through the pipeline from October, extending the deadline by two weeks to September 22. The new timeline means that plan will now take longer to materialise.

The return to open access in January would allow multiple suppliers to compete for space on the pipeline, ending the current exclusive arrangement and reopening the route to a broader pool of fuel importers. When Zambia previously opened the pipeline to competing shippers after an earlier monopoly was unwound, the IMF reported that the single change halved the premium the country paid on fuel.

Vitol’s exclusive access to the pipeline was set to expire at the end of September 2026, but the government has not yet restored open access despite the expiry. The delay means the emergency arrangement will effectively continue until January, when the government targets full restoration.