Uganda has asked Kenya, its main route for oil imports, to allocate it fixed monthly transit petroleum product quotas to ease shortages amid growing anxiety in Kampala over a fuel crisis.
Kampala, in a letter to officials in Nairobi, has demanded a fixed allocation of 110,660 cubic metres of petrol and 110,400 cubic metres of diesel transported through Kenya to satisfy fresh demand following the reopening of its economy from the coronavirus lockdowns.
Uganda, which accounts for 75 percent of fuel transported through Kenya, also wants a guarantee of a monthly provision of 12,000 cubic metres of aviation fuel.“We are hopeful that some of these action areas could enable us address petroleum product supply problems in Uganda,” Ugandan Energy Permanent Secretary Pauline Irene Batebe said in the letter to her counterpart in Kenya.
Ms Batebe said the demands come after a meeting by oil marketers operating in Kampala linked the fuel supply crisis facing the country to inadequate allocations from Kenya.“During the time we experienced Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and beginning of 2021, there was a reduction in demand for petroleum products and when businesses returned to normal in the fourth quarter of 2021 Ugandan Oil marketing companies have continued to inadequate ullage which has caused gaps in fulfilling their demand requirements and therefore resulted in persistent supply problems in Uganda,” said Ms Batebe said.
The letter dated April 11 is addressed to Kenya’s Energy Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau. Uganda’s Ministry of Energy spokesperson Solomon Muyita confirmed the authenticity of the contents of the letter seen by the Business Daily.“Yes the letter is authentic,” Mr Muyita told the Business Daily. It was not immediately clear whether Kenya will act on Uganda’s demands.
Uganda also wants its oil marketing firms to continue being supplied under the open tender system through their sister companies in Kenya. It also wants all Ugandan oil firms to be allowed to load from Nairobi and other terminals in view of the low capacity in western Kenya.
Kenya, a net importer of fuel, has also been struggling with its own supply issues.
Kenya’s three-week fuel crisis, blamed on fuel hoarding by oil marketing firms, has since eased as supplies to petrol stations improve after the government raised pump prices.
The Ministry of Petroleum yesterday said that Kenya had 82,177,000 litres of diesel and a further 52,900,000 litres of petrol at Kenya Pipeline Company’s depots as at Monday evening.“It is clear that the supply of […]