The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has started a process that will see it move all its fuel imports from Kenya by water through Lake Victoria up to the Jinja pier.
Peter Muliisa, the head of legal and corporate affairs at UNOC said the company which runs the business arm of government in the oil and gas sector shipped in six million litres through Lake Victoria in the last one month. Each route carried one million litres of fuel.
The fuel was taken to Jinja storage terminals where the government keeps emergency fuel in case there is a problem that may stop the country from importing fuel. The terminals are run in a joint venture with One Petroleum Limited, a private company.
The importation of fuel through Lake Victoria from Kisumu, Kenya marks the start of a long process that will see UNOC entirely use water to bring in fuel by the end of next year. Private fuel dealers will still have to use the road to import their fuel.
UNOC says it makes more business sense to deliver fuel by water than by road. One trip on the water where the agency brought in one million litres of fuel, UNOC says it needs tens of trucks by road. A heavy truck carries between 30 and 45,000 litres of fuel. More than 80 percent of the cargo that comes into Uganda is by road.
UNOC says it still has trucks on the road bringing fuel and they can turn to the lake next year. The lake can support up to 12 million litres of fuel for Uganda in a month. The six million litres UNOC delivered brings the total of fuel in the reserves in Jinja to just 10 million litres. This is less than two days of fuel consumption in Uganda.
Ugandans consume six million litres of fuel a day. However, private fuel dealers are required by law to have at least reserves that can last 10 days of their market share. The Jinja tanks can only hold 30 million litres.
Muliisa says UNOC now has a shortlist of companies that will develop the Kampala storage terminal to hold 240 million litres of fuel.
In March, UNOC announced it was starting bulk fuel imports and Starbex, a fuel retailer became the first customer for the company. Muliisa said the company had received more expressions of companies that want to be supplied fuel although the volumes they bring in haven’t allowed.
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