Kenya is in talks with Rwanda to buy all its oil supplies from Mombasa as part of a new strategy to maintain its dominance of the region’s transportation industry.
This comes after an intergovernmental agreement signed by the Uganda National Petroleum Corporation (UNOC) and Bahrain’s Vitol, with Uganda agreeing to import more oil from Dar es Salaam.
Uganda is looking for other ways to import petroleum products, including through Tanzanian ports. Ugandan petroleum retailers have for many years purchased the products from their partners in Kenya.
Months after Kenya announced a deal with the key Gulf state to deliver oil over a 180-day credit period to facilitate the implementation of an upgrade of the shilling, Uganda has laid out plans for a credit deal provided by (UNOC).
Kenya started the government-backed deal with Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation, and Emirates National Oil Company in April 2023.
According to the business sources, the project will start in December this year.
The pipeline will connect to Kigali, Rwanda and possibly in the future to Bujumbura (Burundi), with each country responsible for the construction of infrastructure on its territory.
The two countries signed a trilateral agreement under which UNCO will import goods from Mombasa and then transfer them to Eldoret and Kisumu, unloading the contents of Kenya’s pipeline infrastructure, including the last mile in Uganda.
KPA boasts the $320 million KOT2 which consists of four berths with a total length of 770 meters and a workboat wharf at Westmont for landing facilities. The terminal can accommodate three ships concurrently, each with a capacity of 200,000 tons.
The facility has five sub-sea pipelines and six onshore pipelines connecting the terminal to the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited and the KPC’s storage tanks.
