Determinants of the Petroleum Fuel Supply Chain Performance in Zimbabwe: A Case of the National Oil Infrastructure Company

The petroleum fuel supply chain in Zimbabwe has been faced with multiplicity of challenges from perennial erratic fuel supplies to poor product lead times. Despite introduction of direct importation scheme for private players, erratic fuel supplies have remained persistent. The study aimed at identifying factors affecting petroleum fuel supply chain and propose strategies to National Oil Infrastructure Company for the improvement of the petroleum fuel supply chain performance in Zimbabwe. The study exploited a descriptive case study through a mixed method approach in which semi-structured interviews and self-administered structured questionnaire were used to collect primary data from 110 respondents constituting 100% response rate. Findings indicated that petroleum fuel sector is highly fragmented with sub-optimal use of the pipeline in the transportation hence negatively affecting supply. The study concluded that poor performance of the petroleum fuel supply chain had significant downstream effects curtailing the productive capacity of other sectors.