Wet-stock reconciliation for Tanzanian fuel
Wet-stock reconciliation compares three numbers for every tank: the litres your dip or probe measures, the litres your pumps sold, and the litres your deliveries added. When the measured stock and the book stock diverge beyond the tolerance you set, the fuel_variance alarm fires — naming the tank and the shift where the litres went missing, whether to theft, meter drift or a leak.
Wet-stock reconciliation at a glance
- What it reconciles
- Dip / probe vs pump sales vs deliveries
- Core alert
- fuel_variance — book vs measured stock
- Variance tolerance
- — configured per tank†
- Measurement accuracy
- — depends on your probe†
- Reconciliation cadence
- Per shift and per delivery
- Tamper signal
- fuel_tamper — gauge interference
- Delivery record
- recorded then accepted on discharge
- Hardware
- Hardware-agnostic — reads your existing probe / console
- Reporting output
- Variance report per tank, per shift
- Who it's for
- Stations, depots, oil companies under EWURA
Dip minus pump minus delivery is where the money hides
Every litre in a tank should be accounted for by one of three things: it is still in the tank, it was sold at a pump, or it was added by a delivery. Reconciliation lines those numbers up and shows you the leftover. That leftover is your variance — and a persistent, one-way variance is the single clearest signal of loss a fuel operator has.
| Line | Source | Litres |
|---|---|---|
| Opening stock | Dip / probe at shift start | 18,400 |
| Delivery accepted | Tanker discharge recorded | +10,000 |
| Pump sales | Dispenser totalisers | −9,250 |
| Expected (book) stock | Opening + delivery − sales | 19,150 |
| Measured (dip) stock | Dip / probe at shift close | 18,980 |
| Variance | Book − measured | −170 |
The numbers above are illustrative — they show the shape of the calculation, not a Trakora specification. What Trakora ships is the engine that runs this arithmetic automatically at every shift close and every delivery, holds the tolerance you configure for each tank, and raises fuel_variance when the leftover crosses it. The threshold itself is —† a setting, because a busy urban station and a rural depot do not tolerate the same slack.
Two shipped alarms carry the reconciliation
Each is a real rule in the fuel module. For each: what fires it, what the operator sees, and what they do next.
Book stock and measured stock have diverged beyond tolerance
This is the spine of the page. It answers the operator's sharpest question — where did my missing litres go: theft, meter drift, or a leak?
At shift close or after a delivery, the expected book stock and the measured dip differ by more than the tank's configured tolerance.
A raised alarm naming the tank, the shift and the variance in litres, with the three source numbers it was built from.
Re-dip to rule out a bad reading, check the delivery note against the accepted litres, then treat a repeating one-way gap as loss to investigate — not a rounding error to ignore.
The gauge or its wiring has been interfered with
Defeating the meter is the oldest move in wet-stock theft: blind the measurement and the variance disappears with it. This alarm exists so that a suspiciously quiet tank is itself a signal.
The gauging device or its wiring reports physical interference — a disconnected probe, a cut line, or an out-of-range reading pattern.
A tamper alarm against the specific tank, separate from a normal offline event, so the two are never confused.
Send someone to the tank rather than trusting the next reading; a tampered gauge means the reconciliation for that tank is not to be believed until it is checked.
When the gap is the tank failing, not a person
Not every missing litre is stolen. If product is leaving through the shell or lines, or water is getting in, the variance is real but the cause is physical. Those signals — fuel_leak and fuel_high_water — are shell-integrity events and live on their own page, because the operator's response is a different one entirely.
Falling volume with no dispensing and no delivery (fuel_leak), or rising water at the tank bottom (fuel_high_water).
A distinct alarm class, so a leak is never filed as staff theft.
Read the full treatment on leak detection — it pairs shell integrity and water ingress as one story.
How a shift gets reconciled
The same four steps, every shift, without a spreadsheet.
Read the tank
The probe or console reports level, water and temperature; Trakora reads it hardware-agnostically, whichever gauge you already run.
Record the delivery
A tanker discharge is logged as recorded, then accepted once the litres discharged are confirmed against the note.
Close the shift
Pump totals and the closing dip are pulled together; expected book stock is compared against measured stock for every tank.
Raise and report
Any tank over tolerance raises fuel_variance; the shift's variance report is filed per tank for the manager, finance and any EWURA-facing record.
What reconciliation can and cannot tell you
What to expect
- Reconciliation shows you that litres are missing and where; it does not, by itself, name a culprit. It points you at the tank and shift to investigate.
- The variance tolerance is a setting, not a Trakora figure — this page shows — for it deliberately, because the right slack depends on your throughput and your probe.
- Measurement accuracy is a property of the probe you install, not of Trakora; a coarse gauge produces a noisy variance no software can sharpen.
- A single shift's variance can be a bad dip or an unrecorded delivery. The signal is a repeating, one-way gap across shifts, which is exactly what the report is built to surface.
- Trakora is a monitoring and reconciliation layer, not a certified metrology or custody-transfer device; it does not replace a legally-required calibration of your dispensers or gauges.
Cells marked — are not published. The variance tolerance is configured per tank, and measurement accuracy is a property of your probe — no figure is invented for either here. Any threshold or accuracy number is confirmed against your hardware and your operation, in your quote.
Frequently asked questions
What is wet-stock reconciliation?
It is the comparison of the fuel a tank measures against the fuel it should hold — opening stock plus deliveries minus pump sales. The leftover is the variance.
What variance tolerance does Trakora use?
There is no single figure — the tolerance is configured per tank to suit your throughput and probe. This page shows — for it rather than invent a number.
Does a variance mean my staff are stealing?
Not necessarily. A one-off gap can be a bad dip or an unrecorded delivery; a leak or water ingress can cause a real loss with no theft. The report points you at the tank to investigate, and the leak-detection page covers the physical causes.
Does it work with my existing tank gauge?
Yes — the fuel module is hardware-agnostic. It reads the probe or console you already run rather than forcing a specific brand.
How often is stock reconciled?
At every shift close and after every delivery, rather than once a month — so a loss is caught in the shift it happened, not weeks later.
Can someone hide theft by tampering with the gauge?
That is exactly why fuel_tamper exists. Interference with the gauge or its wiring raises its own alarm, so a suspiciously silent tank becomes a signal in its own right.
More on fuel management
Find out where your litres go
Tell us how many tanks and stations you run and what gauges you already have. We will scope a reconciliation deployment in TZS, with a TRA-EFD VAT invoice and Swahili support.